Department for Transport

Railways: Coastal Areas

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the use of coastal rail services.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Secretary of State for Transport has not made a recent assessment of trends in the use of coastal rail services. However, the following published statistics may be of interest.Using ticket sales data, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) estimates the number of passengers travelling to and from each railway station in Great Britain. The latest estimates (for 2018/19) are published, alongside annual estimates since 1997/98, in a statistical publication available from the below link:https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/usage/estimates-of-station-usageThe Department for Transport additionally publishes statistics showing rail passenger usage at selected major cities in an annual publication titled ‘Rail passenger numbers and crowding on weekdays in major cities in England and Wales’. Statistics showing usage at Brighton and Liverpool are included in this publication.The most recent statistical release, covering statistics for autumn 2018 is available from:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rail-passenger-numbers-and-crowding-on-weekdays-in-major-cities-in-england-and-wales-2018

Level Crossings: Accidents

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps his Department has taken to prevent collisions with motor vehicles on rail crossings.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department continues to work closely with Network Rail, which has the chief responsibility for managing Britain’s railway infrastructure, to prevent collisions between motor vehicles and trains on level crossings. As part of Network Rail’s risk reduction programme, Network Rail has closed over 1,200 level crossings on the network since 2009 and has invested over £200 million to improve safety at other crossings, including deploying automatic barriers, miniature stop lights, CCTV and obstacle detection systems. During the period 2019-24, Network Rail will continue to target high risk level crossings and make improvements wherever possible. In addition to planned closures of high risk level crossings on the network, Network Rail continues to run national public awareness campaigns to encourage responsible driving and discourage misuse. This includes using social media and radio advertising to target motorists who live by, work near, or travel through level crossings, so that they follow the warnings in front of them, including lights, barriers and alarms.

Railways: Landslips

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to help prevent landslips occurring on the UK's railways.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to prevent incidents similar to the Stonehaven derailment.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The House will be aware of the tragic derailment of a passenger train at Carmont near Stonehaven in Scotland on 12 August 2020, which led to the deaths of driver Brett McCullough, conductor Donald Dinnie and passenger Christopher Stuchbury, and caused injuries to six other passengers. I would like to express my sincerest condolences to the families affected by this incident. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) is currently investigating the circumstances that led to the derailment. The RAIB’s safety investigation will be undertaken in parallel with the industry’s own investigation and with the investigation instructed by the Lord Advocate, which will be carried out by Police Scotland, the British Transport Police and the Office of Rail and Road. The RAIB will be working to identify the immediate and underlying causes of the incident as part of its ongoing safety investigation, and will be developing recommendations for the industry on how to reduce the risk of landslips and earthwork failures in the future, so that we can prevent harm coming to rail passengers and rail employees alike. In conjunction with this investigation, the Secretary of State has commissioned Network Rail to carry out an immediate review into the resilience of assets on the national network. Network Rail’s report is expected to be published imminently.

Railways: Season Tickets

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions has he had with rail operators on the introduction of flexible season tickets.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Government recognises that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused a fundamental change in working patterns and that this could have long-term effects on commuter behaviours. In response, the Department for Transport has proactively worked with the rail industry, and is currently considering proposals received from train operators to try to ensure better value and convenience for part-time and flexible commuters.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans HS2 Ltd and its contractors have to recruit workers from overseas.

Andrew Stephenson: HS2 Ltd has offices based in Birmingham and London and over 95% of the HS2 supply chain is UK based. HS2 Ltd and their main contractors plan their strategic workforce based on the requirements of the project. HS2 Ltd and its supply chain are required to think through the implications of skills shortages and the talent marketplace. Whilst the market remains competitive, thanks to the growing pipeline of major projects HS2 is benefitting from the growing skills base in the UK from the Olympics, Crossrail, and Tideway, and a host of Highways England and Network Rail projects. HS2 Ltd and its supply chain have to comply with all immigration laws and assure that the workforce has the relevant right to work in the UK.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many British workers were engaged on the manufacture of the tunnelling machines for HS2.

Andrew Stephenson: HS2 Ltd did not procure the tunnelling boring machines as responsibility for this is passed to the Main Works Civil Contractors. That’s because each TBM has to be designed to cope with ‘worst case’ ground conditions in a particular location and these can vary significantly from site to site. However, the TBMs will be operated in the UK by a combination of UK and European specialist operatives. Government has set HS2 Ltd a target for procuring 95% of works from UK based companies. More than 2000 UK businesses have already secured work on the programme.

Free Zones: Infrastructure

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential need for increased infrastructure investment in areas designated for freeports.

Andrew Stephenson: The Government intends to authorize up to ten freeports across the four nations of the UK. We have consulted on the framework, and responses to that consultation are currently under consideration, but no sites have yet been selected. Infrastructure requirements, whether the responsibility of the private or public sector, will be integral to the selection and site development processes.

Railways: EU Countries

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to allow sleeper carriages to travel through the Channel Tunnel.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The binational Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) is responsible for the safety rules and approvals of all vehicles within the Channel Tunnel Fixed Link, including compliance with specific safety regulations to address the risks associated with operating through the Channel Tunnel. These safety regulations do not specifically relate to sleeper services but nor would they prevent any rail sleeper service beginning international operations. The Department stands ready to engage with any operators of potential new international rail services, such as sleeper services, where they have a proposition they wish to explore.

Department for Transport: Buildings

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on which days in (a) July and (b) August 2020 he was physically present in his office in Great Minster House.

Grant Shapps: Based on my dairy for the period, I was present in Great Minster House on the 1st, 15th and 21st July. I was also present at the Houses of Parliament on 2nd, 6th, 14th and 20th July. I was in self-solation following my return from Spain from 29th July to 12th August.

Travel: Coronavirus

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans the Government has to allocate financial support for the travel industry during the covid-19 outbreak.

Andrew Stephenson: The Government recognises the challenging times facing the travel sector as a result of COVID-19. The sector is crucial to the UK’s economy and businesses across the industry will be able to draw on the unprecedented package of economic measures we have put in place during this time. This includes a Bank of England scheme for firms to raise capital and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme which facilitates access to finance for businesses affected by the outbreak. Firms are also able to access ‘Time to Pay’ scheme which eases restrictions with tax bills and VAT deferrals. The Government is also ensuring financial support for employees through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme covering 80% of furloughed employees’ usual monthly wage costs, up to £2,500 a month, alongside the associated Employer National Insurance contributions and pension contributions. If employees have exhausted all other avenues, they should write to the Transport Secretary. The Department for Transport is in close contact with the travel sector ensuring that the Government is kept fully aware of the latest developments with all firms and to understand where additional policy measures and address specific industry issues.

British Airways

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations his Department has received from (a) British Airways and (b) International Airlines Group on the Governments support for the aviation sector.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department for Transport has been in regular contact with airlines, airports, ground handlers and unions to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the companies and their workers. It would be inappropriate to comment on discussions held with individual companies. The aviation sector is essential to the UK economy, and companies can draw upon the unprecedented package of measures, including: schemes to raise capital, flexibilities with tax bills, and financial support for employees. If airlines find themselves in trouble because of coronavirus, and have exhausted the measures already available to them, the Government is prepared to enter discussions with individual companies seeking bespoke support as a last resort, having exhausted all other options.??Any intervention would need to represent value for money for taxpayers.

British Airways

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what meetings, including those held virtually, he has had with British Airways since April 2020; and on what dates those meetings occurred.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department for Transport has been in regular contact with airlines, airports, ground handlers and unions to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the companies and their workers. It would be inappropriate to comment on discussions held with individual companies.

Aviation: Coronavirus

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timeframe is for covid-19 levels in countries to be reviewed to allow air bridges to the UK.

Andrew Stephenson: The Health Regulations relating to the self-isolation requirements remain under constant review, and are updated as required. The country exemption review takes place each week.

Oxford-Hereford Railway Line

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2020 to Question 21252 on Oxford-Hereford Railway Line, whether he has received the draft evaluation from Network Rail of the Strategic Business Case for the North Cotswold Line Option 5 improvements.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department for Transport received Network Rail’s assessment on 26 August. A copy has been forwarded to North Cotswold Line Task Force representatives with an invitation to discuss the next steps for progressing the Business Case.

Roads: Tree Planting

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what species of tree are in the Highways England recommended tree planting strategy alongside (a) motorways and (b) A-roads.

Rachel Maclean: Highways England’s standard for landscape design requires the character of the landscape around roads to be considered when specifying species for tree planting schemes. Projects on motorways and A-roads should therefore use local species of trees if possible and appropriate for that location. In practice, predominantly native and locally indigenous species are planted within the highway such as Hawthorn, Birch, Crab apple and Field Maple. Motorway interchanges and larger expanses may have space for bigger trees such as Oak or Beech. Occasionally, the need to support local habitats/species, or to protect local genetic diversity, may require trees to be grown from seeds from a specific location (accounting for “local provenance”). Highways England has a specification for such special provenance requirements.

Department for Transport: Staff

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many members of staff in his Department have equality, diversity or inclusion in their job title.

Chris Heaton-Harris: There are 17 individuals in the central Department and it’s Executive Agencies with equality, diversity or inclusion in their job title.

Official Cars: Electric Vehicles

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his Answer of 21 July 2020 to Question 72801 on Official Cars: Production, how many Ford Mondeo hybrid cars there are in the Government Car Service fleet.

Chris Heaton-Harris: There are 21 Ford Mondeo hybrid cars in the Government Car Service (GCS) fleet. These are due for replacement with Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV’s) within the next 18 months.

Department for Education

Special Educational Needs: Coronavirus

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment the Government has made of the (a) ability and (b) safety of children with SEND returning to school as covid-19 restrictions are eased.

Vicky Ford: Supporting all children and young people and keeping them safe is the highest priority for the government, especially at this time. The decision to ask pupils to return to school has not been taken lightly, and it is based on the latest available evidence. Our NHS Test and Trace system is up and running, and we are clear about the measures that need to be in place to create safer environments within education settings. This enables children to return to their educational setting so that they can receive high-quality teaching and specialist professional care.Additionally, the risk to children and young people themselves of becoming severely ill from COVID-19 is very low and there are negative impacts of being out of school or college. Returning to normal educational routines as quickly as possible will be critical for children and young people’s education and wellbeing, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities. Most pupils and students will be able to return to their setting. However, some pupils and students who are no longer required to shield but who generally remain under the care of a specialist health professional may need to discuss their care with their health professional. More advice is available from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health here: https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/covid-19-shielding-guidance-children-young-people#children-who-should-be-advised-to-shield.On 2 July, the government published detailed plans for schools and colleges that set out what is needed to plan for a full return of their pupils and students from the beginning of the autumn term, including for special schools and other specialist settings. This has been developed with medical experts from Public Health England and includes putting in place a ‘system of controls’ to minimise the risk of transmission in their settings.The guidance for special schools and other specialist settings can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-full-opening-special-schools-and-other-specialist-settings.The guidance for mainstream settings is available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools.

Universities: Freedom of Expression

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure freedom of academic thought and expression at UK universities.

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will commission a report on the level of academic freedom in UK universities.

Michelle Donelan: Universities must protect academic freedom and must be places where staff and students with a diverse range of views are comfortable to express their views without fear of repercussion.A number of recent reports have provided evidence of a range of threats to freedom of speech and academic expression at UK universities. A 2019 report by Kings College London found signs of a “chilling effect”; as 1 in 4 students reported that they were scared to express their views for fear of repercussions.A recent report by Policy Exchange found that some academics feel similarly reluctant to express their views, with some academics reporting that they face discrimination throughout recruitment and promotion processes as a result of their political views.Lawful free speech and academic freedom must be supported to the fullest extent at universities so that students, staff and visiting speakers feel free to explore a range of ideas and challenge perceived wisdom. Academic freedom is essential, and individuals or groups of academics must be free to carry out research even on contentious issues. We are exploring a range of legislative and non-legislative options to ensure this and my department will set out further steps in due course.

Universities: Disadvantaged

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to make an assessment of the effect of the (a) covid-19 outbreak and (b) 2020 A-level awards process on university applications from students from disadvantaged backgrounds for the 2020-21 academic year in order to mitigate any such adverse effects for the 2021-22 academic year.

Michelle Donelan: The government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID-19. This has been an incredibly difficult time for students and this government is making every effort to make sure that all those who planned to move on to higher education can do so.Protecting students’ mental health and wellbeing is a priority. I wrote to all higher education providers asking them to ensure they continue to support students. We have clarified that providers can use funding worth £256 million for the academic year of 2020/21, starting from August, towards student hardship funds and mental health support. Furthermore, the Office for Students has provided up to £3 million to fund the Student Space platform to bridge gaps in mental health support for students.Through our government taskforce, we are working closely with universities to support them with the challenges they face and to help them build capacity for students entering university in the 2020/21 academic year. We have already announced that we intend to remove the temporary student number controls as well as the normal caps on medical and dental students. We will also be making additional funding available to universities to help them take on more students.The government and the higher education sector have agreed that all students who achieved the required grades will be offered a place at their first choice university in the 2020/21 academic year wherever possible, or if maximum capacity is reached, they will be offered an alternative course or a deferred place. In these circumstances, we have asked universities to particularly consider what they can do for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.As of 2 September, The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service figures show that a record 24,680 18-year-olds from the most disadvantaged backgrounds (POLAR4 quintile 1) in England have been accepted into university for 2020/21 – this is a record rate of 22.9%, compared to the same point last year. I also wrote to Vice Chancellors on 28 August, confirming that I would work with higher education providers in the coming weeks to support the 2021/21 intake of students.We are also ensuring that higher education providers have the guidance they need to ensure that their provision is COVID-19 secure. We will continue to work with the sector to support them with the current challenges that providers might face as well as to deliver on this year’s admission cycle and to allow the sector to access the government support on offer as needed.

Free School Meals: Primary Education

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether free schools meals are being offered to all pupils in the first three years of primary school in England.

Vicky Ford: We allocate £600 million per year to ensure that 1.4 million infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of the universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) policy in 2014. Now that schools are reopen to all children, those in reception, year 1 and year 2 in England’s state-funded schools will receive a free meal. During the period in which schools were largely closed, the government continued to provide support to those eligible for benefits related free school meals (FSM) through the National Voucher Scheme.Now that schools and their kitchens are open again, we expect them to provide free school meals to all those entitled to benefits related FSM and UIFSM to those children attending school. If a child needs to miss school for COVID-19 related matters, such as self-isolation due to a case of COVID-19, then we have asked schools to provide meals to those entitled to benefits related FSM.

Medicine: Higher Education

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to require universities that have accepted medical students on a deferred entry to 2021-22 as a result of the 2020 A-level awards to accept the result of the 2020 UCAT and BMAT tests beyond their 12-month validity period to ensure that students do not have to resit them.

Michelle Donelan: Universities are independent, autonomous bodies. As such, they are responsible for their own admissions decisions, including on the use of the University Clinical Aptitude Test and BioMedical Admissions Test in their admissions process.The evidence for acceptance to university courses ceases to be relevant once a university student has been accepted to the course, regardless of when they have commenced, including deferrals. The Medical Schools Council is not aware of any medical school that would expect any student in this situation to have to resit.The government has asked that universities are as flexible as possible, and we will continue to make every effort to minimise the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on young people’s education.

Breakfast Clubs

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to extend access to breakfast clubs prior to the start of the school day.

Vicky Ford: We are committed to supporting schools and children so that they are able to benefit from our breakfast club programme. The department is investing up to £35 million into the National School Breakfast Programme, using funds from Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues. We have also announced that the programme will be extended by a further year, until March 2021, with up to an additional 650 schools being supported.Many schools operate their own breakfast and after school clubs, and from the start of the autumn term should be working to resume this provision. As part of our guidance to schools on full opening, we have provided guidance to schools to help them in reopening this valuable support, more information is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#wraparound-provision-and-extra-curricular-activity.We have also published updated guidance for providers who run before and after-school clubs, tuition and other out-of-school settings for children on the protective measures that should be put in place from the start of the autumn term, to ensure they are operating as safely as possible when all children return to school. The guidance is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/protective-measures-for-out-of-school-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.

Further Education and Schools: Finance

Mick Whitley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional funding he plans to make available to (a) schools and (b) further education providers to support the mental health needs of young people returning to classrooms in September 2020.

Vicky Ford: Getting children and young people back into education, with settings devoting time to supporting wellbeing, will play a fundamental part in supporting children and young people’s mental health during the COVID-19 outbreak. All pupils and students will return to a full high-quality education programme in September, so they have the opportunity to thrive and fulfil their potential.Our £1 billion COVID-19 catch-up package, including a £650 million pupil premium shared across schools over the 2020-21 academic year, will support education settings to put the right catch-up support, including pastoral support, in place.The catch-up premium is in addition to core funding through which schools already support young people. This year we are also providing £780 million additional high needs funding across England for children with the most complex special educational needs and disabilities. We are providing a further £730 million in 2021-22, which will bring the total high needs budget to over £8 billion.From September, when pupils and students will return to schools and colleges, the government is investing £8 million in the new Wellbeing for Education Return programme, which will provide schools and colleges all over England with the knowledge and practical skills they need to support teachers, students and parents to the emotional impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.Schools and colleges may also need to access support from specialist services. NHS mental health services remain open and all NHS mental health trusts have been asked to ensure that there are 24/7 open access telephone lines to support people of all ages. In addition to this, the government has provided over £9 million to mental health charities to ensure they can continue to support people experiencing mental health challenges throughout the outbreak.

Carers: Children

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to recruit an adequate number of (a) short breaks foster carers and (b) community short breaks carers to care for children with disabilities.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the adequacy of the number of short breaks foster carers (a) nationally and (b) in York.

Vicky Ford: Local authorities have a duty to ensure they have sufficient placements that meet the needs of their looked-after children in their area, this includes foster care placements for short breaks. These placements are for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and children with behavioural difficulties to enjoy a short stay on a planned, regular basis with the same short break-carer as a strategy to relieve strain on a permanent placement or birth family.Data on the approved households for each placement type can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/childrens-social-care-statistics.It is vital that local authorities can find the right carers to meet the needs of vulnerable children. The department commissioned behavioural insights research which commenced in November 2019, to explore the barriers and motivations of prospective carers and seek recommendations for more targeted approaches in local recruitment. We will share these findings with fostering services and recruitment managers.The department also recently funded 7 feasibility studies in commissioning and sufficiency planning, bringing together local authorities with their partners to explore innovative practices, including collaborative approaches to foster care recruitment. We are also exploring whether digital approaches could help us in supporting local authorities to improve matching of children to carers.

Babies and Children

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the Government's timeframe is for the reopening of maternal and child classes as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.

Vicky Ford: Activities for families and their young children, for example baby and toddler groups, can operate provided they, and the premises they operate from, follow relevant government guidance.Guidance on which premises and businesses are legally able to open is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close-guidance.Providers should also have regard to and, where relevant, ensure that they are following guidance on the safe use of multi-purpose community facilities, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-the-safe-use-of-multi-purpose-community-facilities.Ofsted registered early years providers should ensure they are following guidance for early years and childcare providers, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures.

Universities: Admissions

Dr Luke Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the ability of universities to manage the increased number of places available to students for the 2020-21 academic year.

Michelle Donelan: I have written directly to all Vice Chancellors and have set up a Higher Education Taskforce so that the government can work with the sector to build capacity, harness expert views and tackle challenges. Together, we have agreed that all students who achieved the required grades will be offered a place at their first-choice university, wherever possible.We have taken a number to steps to support this commitment. We have announced that, subject to parliamentary approval, we will completely remove temporary student number controls to help ensure there are no additional barriers to students being able to progress to higher education.We have announced that we will lift caps on domestic medicine and dentistry courses in the next academic year. We will support providers to offer places to as many students who have met the grades for their current offer as they have capacity for, and where there are clinical placements available, through additional grant funding to support the costs of this provision.We will also provide additional teaching grant funding to increase capacity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and other high-cost subjects, which are vital to the country’s social needs and economy. The Office for Students (OfS) will consult the sector on the details of how the allocations are made.Providers will also be eligible to bid for a share of up to £10 million in funding to support capital expenditure. This funding will be used to support the infrastructure required to accommodate additional students recruited as a result of the changes to policy on A level grades.The fund will be administered by the OfS, and providers will be eligible to bid for projects that support expansion in 2020-21.We will continue to monitor the situation and to consider the effects that deferrals will have on future years. Funding decisions for future years will be taken at the Spending Review.

Higher Education: Finance

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government is providing additional financial support to higher education providers to support larger numbers of students following the removal of temporary student number controls.

Michelle Donelan: We have announced that, subject to parliamentary approval, we will completely remove temporary student number controls to help ensure there are no additional barriers to students being able to progress to higher education.We are working closely with the sector to create additional capacity and ensure providers are as flexible as possible. To do this, we are taking steps such as lifting caps on domestic medicine and dentistry courses in the next academic year. We are also supporting providers to offer places to as many students who have met the grades for their current offer as they have capacity for and where there are clinical placements available, through additional grant funding to support the costs of this provision.We are also providing additional teaching grant funding to increase capacity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and other high-cost subjects which are vital to the country’s social needs and economy. The Office for Students (OfS) will consult the sector on the details of how the allocations are made.Providers will also be eligible to bid for a share of up to £10 million funding to support capital expenditure. This funding will be used to support the infrastructure required to accommodate additional students recruited as a result of the changes to policy on A level grades.The fund will be administered by the OfS, and providers will be eligible to bid for projects that support expansion in 2020-21.We will continue to monitor the situation and to consider the effects that deferrals will have on future years. Funding decisions for future years will be taken at the Spending Review.

Students: Loans

Nick Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he (a) has made an assessment of the equity of student loan repayments being taken from probationary police officers in London whose allowance takes them over the threshold for repayment and (b) plans to change his policy on that issue.

Michelle Donelan: Repayments are made based on a borrower’s monthly or weekly income, not the interest rate, amount borrowed or borrower’s occupation. Repayments are calculated as a fixed percentage of earnings, with only the amount of earnings above the relevant repayment threshold being considered – and if the borrower’s income drops, so do repayments made. No repayments are made on earnings below the repayment thresholds. Any outstanding debt is written off at the end of the loan term with no detriment to the borrower.If, at the end of the year, the borrower’s total income is below the relevant annual threshold, they may reclaim any repayments from the Student Loans Company made during that year.There are no plans to amend the regulations to apply different repayment terms to borrowers in different occupations.

Remote Education: Pre-school Education

Sir Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Department's guidance for parents and carers of children attending out-of-school settings during the coronavirus (covid-19) outbreak, published on 10 July 2020, when similar guidance will be published for parents with children under five years old.

Vicky Ford: The guidance for parents and carers with children under five is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/what-parents-and-carers-need-to-know-about-early-years-providers-schools-and-colleges-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.It was first published on 18 June 2020.

GCE A-level: Assessments

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of postponing autumn A-level exams to the end of November 2020 to give students unable to take their A-levels in summer 2020 additional time to prepare for those exams.

Nick Gibb: We want students who wish to sit autumn exams to be able to do so at the earliest opportunity following the cancellation of exams in the summer. A level exams will be sat in October so that students receive results before Christmas and can use them to progress to their next step as soon as possible.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Biofuels

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with his international counterparts on the use of biomass fuel for electricity.

Kwasi Kwarteng: All Ministerial meetings gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings are published quarterly. Details of meetings from January to March can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beis-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-january-to-march-2020.Data for April to June 2020 will be published in due course.

Green Homes Grant Scheme: Certification

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the average time is for a PAS 2030 certification to be processed once a business applies, in the most recent month for which figures are available.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The amount of time that it takes to receive receives PAS 2030 certification differs depending on the certification body that the business has applied to and the completeness of it application.Certification can take less than two weeks providing the business has the correct documentation.

Green Homes Grant Scheme: Certification

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that businesses offering home improvement under the Green Homes Grant scheme receive their PAS 2030 certification as quickly as possible.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It is the responsibility of the TrustMark scheme providers to ensure that organisations are Publicly Available Specification (PAS) certified, although the Department is working closely with TrustMark to ensure that the right information is shared with the scheme providers and their members so they know what they need to do to become certified to the correct level of PAS. The Green Homes Grant scheme is making a substantial commitment to supply chain development, to bolster the workforce and support the delivery of the scheme, including support and training directed towards gaining required certification.

Community Centres: Energy

Lee Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to ensure that non-domestic properties used by community groups and clubs can become more energy efficient.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The Government has a range of policies aimed at improving the energy efficiency of non-domestic properties such as those used by community groups and clubs. Where the community buildings are owned by the public sector, they are eligible for energy efficiency reduction funding through the Public Sector Energy Efficiency Loan Scheme. The capital pot for England stands at £385 million by the end of 2020/21. This funding, managed by Salix Finance, has delivered over 17,000 projects, significantly improving energy performance in the public sector. There is also the rural community energy fund which supports local communities in developing and designing energy projects locally. These projects can include community and club buildings. We have also put in place minimum energy efficiency standards in the non-domestic rental sector. The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property)(England and Wales) Regulations 2015 require landlords of non-domestic properties to improve their building’s energy performance to an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of E. We consulted in October 2019 on raising the minimum standard to an EPC B by 2030, where cost effective. This is expected to cover up to 85% of properties in the non-domestic rental sector.

Biofuels: Imports

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the methodology it uses to measure the impact of UK biomass imports on the forests from which those imports are sourced; and what plans his Department has to review that methodology.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The criteria used to ensure that only sustainably sourced biomass is used within our power sector is effective in protecting biodiversity and carbon stock in forests where biomass is sourced and requires biomass fuels to be derived from forest waste wood and residues. In their ‘Biomass in a low-carbon economy’ report the Committee on Climate Change stated the evidence suggests that the UK’s bioenergy sustainability rules are helping to limit sustainability risks. Those sites using biomass with a capacity greater than or equal to 1 megawatt must also prepare an annual sustainability report compiled by a third party auditor/verifier which provides assurance that biomass is from sustainable sources.

Biofuels: Imports

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what criteria his Department uses to measure and calculate the impact on (a) biodiversity and (b) ecosystems of biomass sourced and imported into the UK from overseas forests.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The UK only supports biomass for electricity generation which complies with strict sustainability criteria, and generating stations utilising biomass only receive subsidies in respect of compliant biomass. These criteria take into account social, economic and environmental issues including protecting biodiversity and ecosystems, land use rights, sustainable harvesting and regeneration rates. They ensure that the carbon stock of the forest from which the pellets are derived is not decreased by requiring that biomass fuels are derived from forest waste wood and residues and that the forest owner adheres to relevant legal requirements to protect biodiversity and the environment.

Research: Coronavirus

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what funding has been made available from the public purse to support multi-partner collaborative research projects during the covid-19 outbreak.

Amanda Solloway: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), has committed more than £95 million to new research aimed at tackling COVID-19 and repurposed research grants of £80 million to address the effects of the pandemic. This includes projects supported by the UKRI call launched in March 2020 for short-term projects (up to 18 months) addressing the health, social, economic, cultural and environmental impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak - these calls were open to collaborations across disciplines and sectors. Recognising the global nature of the virus and the UK’s obligation to the world’s poorest under our ODA commitments, funding has been mobilised to support COVID research in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries. BEIS, through UKRI, has launched a joint Newton Fund-Global Challenges Research Fund agile call, amounting to £7.5 million. The call aims to help tackle the outbreak across developing countries where communities are already vulnerable due to long-term conflict, food and water shortages, and crowded living conditions.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has issued guidance on the implications for the calculation of statutory redundancy pay of being placed on reduced pay in a furlough agreement under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and then made redundant; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Scully: Any employee who is dismissed due to redundancy and who satisfies certain qualifying conditions has a statutory entitlement to a lump sum from their employer, based on their age, length of service and contractual weekly earnings, subject to a statutory upper limit, payable at, or soon after, the dismissal date. The Government introduced new legislation which commenced on 31 July to ensure that furloughed employees who are subsequently made redundant receive statutory redundancy pay based on the employee’s normal pay, rather than their furlough pay (potentially 80% of their normal wage). The Government issued guidance on these changes which can be found on the Acas website at: https://www.acas.org.uk/manage-staff-redundancies/work-out-redundancy-pay. The Government has always urged employers to do the right thing and not seek to disadvantage furloughed employees who are facing redundancy. We are aware that most companies will do this and we have now underpinned these expectations with additional statutory protections.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Staff

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many members of staff in his Department have equality, diversity or inclusion in their job title.

Nadhim Zahawi: There are six members of staff in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy that have equality, diversity or inclusion in their job title.

Research: Equality

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 24 July 2020 to Question 76019 on Postgraduate Education: Equality, (a) when and (b) how regularly the Government plans to publish diversity statistics for the UK’s research sector.

Amanda Solloway: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) monitors diversity data of the research and innovation funded through the research councils, Innovate UK and Research England. UKRI published its first set of harmonised diversity data for all seven research councils for the past five academic years in July 2020 and are committed to publishing diversity data annually. The next harmonised diversity data release is scheduled for early 2021. UKRI are also committed to expanding their data collection and analysis capabilities including of grants funded by Innovate UK, and publishing other diversity data more regularly, such as the detailed ethnicity analysis of grant applications due to be published in Autumn 2020.

Innovation Expert Group: Public Appointments

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference his Department's Policy paper UK Research and Development Roadmap, published on 1 July 2020, what the timetable is for appointments to be made to the Innovation Expert Group.

Amanda Solloway: The Innovation Expert Group will comprise people with the deep knowledge, experience and clear vision to help advise on innovation, drawing from industry, public services, the investment community and across the relevant disciplines of the research community.

OneWeb

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State  for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, from which area of his Departmental budget will the funding for the acquisition of OneWeb be allocated from.

Amanda Solloway: The budget for OneWeb will be allocated through the 2020-21 Supplementary Estimate and considered as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2020 process.

Hydrogen

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if the Government will (a) develop and (b) publish a hydrogen strategy.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The Government is committed to the development of hydrogen as a strategic decarbonised energy carrier for the UK. We are currently developing our strategic approach to hydrogen and its potential to deliver against our net zero goals. In order to inform our approach, we are undertaking extensive stakeholder engagement, including through the launch of our Hydrogen Advisory Council enabling government to work in partnership with industry, as we develop new policy to help bring forward the technologies and supply chain we will need to grow the UK hydrogen economy. This includes developing business models to support the deployment of, and investment in, low carbon hydrogen production and a £100m Low Carbon Hydrogen Production Fund to stimulate capital investment.

Hunterston B Power Station: Closures

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of energy security in relation to the reported early closure of Hunterston nuclear power station.

Nadhim Zahawi: Hunterston B has been generating low carbon electricity for more than 40 years. Over its lifetime, it has produced enough low carbon energy to power the whole of Scotland for 8 years. The Capacity Market ensures security of electricity supply by providing all forms of capacity with the right incentives to be on the system and to deliver electricity when needed. It secures the capacity we need, including new capacity to replace aging power stations as they retire, through auctions held either four years or one year ahead of delivery (T-4 and T-1). To date, these capacity auctions have secured the majority of the capacity that Great Britain needs until 2023/. Hunterston B holds capacity agreements for around 0.9 GW of capacity in 2020/21 and 2021/22. In light of EDF Energy’s decision to end generation at Hunterston B by 7 January 2022, we will have the opportunity to secure replacement capacity in the T-1 auction for 2021/22 if required.

Department of Health and Social Care

Obesity: Poverty

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy paper entitled Tackling obesity: government strategy published on 27 July 2020, what assessment his Department has made of the potential link between poverty and obesity.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Obesity: Eating Disorders

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the obesity strategy on people with eating disorders.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Screening

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate has he made of his Department's average daily capacity to provide covid-19 home testing kits; and what steps is he taking to increase that provision.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Greater London

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure covid-19 test facilities are accessible locally in Lambeth and Southwark.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Screening

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people who have been asked to travel more than (a) five, (b) 10 and (c) 20 miles to access covid-19 testing facilities.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Screening

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the average distance people are required to travel when asked to undertake a covid-19 test.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Sitel: Coronavirus

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which companies have been subcontracted by Sitel to deliver contact tracing services; what the (a) value and (b) staffing levels is of each of those contracts; and how many people have been referred under each of those contracts to date.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Cancer: Health Services

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the evidential basis is for his oral contribution of 1 September 2020, Official Report, column 29, that the backlog of cancer cases built up during the covid-19 outbreak has been reduced by half.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

General Practitioners: Coronavirus

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of (a) remote and (b) telephone GP appointments on patient well-being.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

General Practitioners: Coronavirus

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of GPs allowing more face-to-face appointments following the outbreak of covid-19.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Gambling: Public Health

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his plans are for public health gambling policies and strategies following the merger of Public Health England with NHS Test and Trace and the Joint Biosecurity Centre.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Drugs: Misuse

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has for public health drugs policies and strategies following the merger of Public Health England with NHS Test and Trace and the Joint Biosecurity Centre.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his plans are for public health alcohol policies and strategies following the merger of Public Health England with NHS Test and Trace and the Joint Biosecurity Centre.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Smoking: Public Health

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his plans are for public health tobacco smoking policies and strategies following the merger of Public Health England with NHS Test and Trace and the Joint Biosecurity Centre.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Addictions: Public Health

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has for public health addictions policies and strategies following the merger of Public Health England with NHS Test and Trace and the Joint Biosecurity Centre.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Radiotherapy: Medical Equipment

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding he plans to allocate to  replacement of linear accelerator radiotherapy machines in use by NHS trusts that are past the recommended 10-year lifespan; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Radiotherapy: Medical Equipment

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to allocate funding for the replacement of radiotherapy machines in use in NHS trusts that are past the recommended 10-year lifespan in 2021-22; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Research

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has for research into the long-term effects of covid-19 on people who contracted the virus but were never hospitalised.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Research

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on the research study into the long-term health effects of covid-19 on hospitalised patients announced on 5 July 2020.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Supported Housing: Visits

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to facilitate visits to supported living facilities for disabled people in a covid-19-secure way.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Supported Housing: Coronavirus

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to enable residents in supported living facilities for disabled people to be tested for covid-19.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Supported Housing: Coronavirus

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to enable care workers providing services in supported living facilities for disabled people to get themselves regularly tested for covid-19.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Arthritis: Health Services

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that NHS trusts and integrated care systems, resuming services as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased, carry out their statutory duty to consult people with arthritis on those services.

Helen Whately: Guidance has been issued to the NHS on the process of starting to restore urgent non-COVID-19 services, as well as encouraging the public to access the care they need when they need it. The most urgent treatments should be brought back first, and this will be driven by local demands with infection prevention and control as a guiding principle. The approach is being locally tailored according to capacity and demand in different parts of the country, but the reset will be gradual. The guidance is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/07/Phase-3-letter-July-31-2020.pdf

Social Services: Pay

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the statement entitled, Government response to the 33rd report of the NHS Pay Review Body, HCWS409, what discussions his Department has had with representatives from social care providers on a pay rise for social care staff in the next year.

Helen Whately: The Government does not have direct responsibility for pay awards in adult social care in the same way as for other areas of the public sector. Adult social care providers continue to set the rate of pay for their workers.The Government nonetheless maintains oversight of the social care system and we are committed to raising the profile of the social care sector. Putting social care on a sustainable footing, where everyone is treated with dignity and respect, is one of the biggest challenges that we face as a society. There are complex questions to address, to which we want to give our full considerations in light of the current circumstances.

Coronavirus: Screening

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish occupational data for those testing positive for covid-19 in each local authority in England.

Helen Whately: Public Health England does not publish data of the occupation of those who test positive for COVID-19. There is currently no planned publication date for this information as the dataset requires careful assessment to ensure that the data is accurate and representative.

Hospitals: Private Sector

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many operations and treatments are being sent to private sector hospitals under NHS contracts as non-covid-19 work resumes in England.

Edward Argar: The information is not held in the format requested.National Health Service patients are benefitting from an unprecedented partnership with private hospitals in the United Kingdom as we battle the COVID-19 outbreak. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with the independent sector to secure all appropriate inpatient capacity and other resource across England. This has increased NHS capacity and ensured that more facilities are available for patients diagnosed with COVID-19.Throughout this period, independent providers have continued to provide urgent operations for NHS patients, as well as their private pay or insured patients.As part of preparing for winter, the Government has provided an additional £3 billion to the NHS. This will allow the NHS to continue to use the extra hospital capacity acquired from the independent sector and also to maintain the Nightingale hospitals until the end of March.

NHS: Standards

Kate Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to include reference to the statutory duty to involve patients in service delivery in future guidance to NHS (a) trusts and (b) integrated care systems.

Edward Argar: The priorities set across the National Health Service for the third phase of the COVID-19 response were published on 31 July in a letter sent to NHS leaders including integrated care systems, sustainability and transformation partnerships and trust chairs. The letter emphasises the need to listen and learn from patients and communities; and encouraged a renewed focus on health inequalities.Beyond this work to ensure the prioritisation of the patient voice within the system, there is also existing statutory guidance on involving patients in the commissioning of health services. This includes duties across the system applying to NHS England, clinical commissioning groups, and NHS trusts. This guidance has been maintained during the COVID-19 pandemic and engagement has continued with the public in a range of virtual ways.

Care Homes: Coronavirus

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to change the current guidance on care home visits during the covid-19 outbreak.

Sir Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance is available for people who wish to visit family members in nursing care during the covid-19 lockdown; when those visits will be permitted if outdoor visits become unfeasible; and if he will make a statement.

Mr William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the arrangements are for relatives who wish to visit family members who are residents in care homes in Greater Manchester.

Zarah Sultana: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Government plans to reintroduce visiting in care homes as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased; whether that reintroduction will follow a staggered approach; and what support his Department plans to provide to care homes to help them reintroduce visiting as safely as possible.

Helen Whately: Our aim is to enable residents to be reunited safely with their loved ones. This guidance will be updated as the risk posed by COVID-19 continues to change.On 22 July 2020 the Government published updated guidance on visiting arrangements for care homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. This guidance is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visiting-care-homes-during-coronavirusOur first priority is to prevent infections in care homes and therefore visits should be carried out with caution.Care homes can develop their visiting policies based on a local dynamic risk assessment, taking into account the circumstances and needs of the individual care setting, including both residents and staff, and the external COVID-19 environment. The process of considering visitors should be led by the relevant local Director of Public Health.

Care Homes: Palliative Care

Mr David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many care homes were instructed by the NHS to put in place do not resuscitate orders between 1 February 2020 to 1 August 2020; and how many people were placed under those orders.

Mr David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what basis some care homes were chosen by the NHS to put do not resuscitate orders on all their residents during the height of the covid-19 outbreak.

Mr David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many do not resuscitate orders were put in place in care homes where the person died (a) from any cause and (b) with covid-19 on the death certificate between 1 February 2020 to 1 August 2020.

Mr David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many do not resuscitate orders were put in place between (a) 1 February 2019 to 1 August 2019 and (b) 1 February 2020 to 1 August 2020.

Helen Whately: The Department does not hold data on the numbers or assessment of Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Decisions (DNACPR).Agreement to a DNACPR is an individual decision and should involve the person concerned or, where the person lacks capacity, their families, carers, guardians or other legally recognised advocates. There has not been a national instruction or directive issued for blanket DNACPR decisions to be put in place. We remain clear that the blanket application of DNACPRs is unacceptable and that standards and quality of care should be maintained even in pressurised circumstances.

Care Homes

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to assess the extent to which the family members of people in care may come under pressure to become second carers.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the care system for the partners of people in care.

Helen Whately: The Government’s priority for adult social care is for everyone who relies on care to get the care they need. Local authorities have a duty to make an assessment of each individual’s needs and set out how they will be met.Family carers can play an important role. However, we remain committed to supporting carers to provide care as they would wish, for it to be a positive choice and in a way that maintains their own health and wellbeing and other life chances. We published the ‘Carers Action Plan 2018 – 2020 Supporting Carers Today’ which sets out a cross-Government programme of targeted work to support all carers in England, so they receive the recognition and support they need.Carers, including partners, are also entitled to an assessment of their own need for support from their local authority.

Disability: Social Services

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the Government will take steps to work with disabled people, their families and social care providers to develop an action plan to reintroduce safe and flexible community care and support services.

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to work with disabled people, their families and social care providers to develop an action plan to reintroduce safe and flexible community care and support services.

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to work with (a) disabled people, (b) their families and (c) social care providers to develop an action plan to reintroduce safe and flexible community care and support services.

Helen Whately: Local authorities and service providers should have maintained contact with carers and those receiving services throughout the lockdown. They will now be discussing arrangements to reintroduce care packages where these had been limited due to lockdown restrictions.Understanding and mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on disabled people was a focus of the Social Sector COVID-19 Support Taskforce. The Taskforce was supported by several advisory groups, one of which was the learning disability and autism advisory group. The group included members with lived experience. The recommendations of the Taskforce will shape our approach to COVID-19 in the adult social care sector and, in particular, the plans we put in place for winter which we will set out in the Adult Social Care Winter Plan, being published later this month.

Health Professions: Devolution

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons regulation of the health professions is devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly but not to the Scottish Parliament.

Helen Whately: The devolved nations, institutions and their respective devolution settlements are all different and are considered as individual organisations. The devolution settlements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland enable different powers to each of the respective devolved legislatures and to the Ministers of the devolved administrations.

Medical Treatments: Coronavirus

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the number of patients receiving elective NHS treatment in (a) Wirral and (b) England.

Edward Argar: The number of patients who completed Referral-To-Treatment pathways between March and June 2020 was down 44% in England on the same period last year. For patients seen at Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Wirral Community NHS Foundation Trust and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust, the effect was slightly larger, with a drop of 46% for the period March to June 2020 compared with the same period last year.On 31 July further guidance was issued to local National Health Service providers and commissioners on outlining the next phase of the NHS response to COVID-19 and concurrent non-COVID-19 activity. The focus is on accelerating the return of non-COVID-19 health services to near-normal levels, including making full use of available capacity between now and winter, whilst also preparing for winter demand pressures. This will be done alongside continued vigilance in light of any further COVID-19 spikes locally and possibly nationally.

Health Services: Waiting Lists

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he estimates waiting lists for (a) outpatients appointments, (b) day cases and (c) non-emergency surgery will return to pre-covid-19 levels.

Edward Argar: On 31 July, further guidance was issued to local National Health Service providers and commissioners on outlining the next phase of the NHS response to COVID-19 and concurrent non-COVID-19 activity. Focus is on accelerating the return of non-COVID-19 health services to near-normal levels, including making full use of available capacity between now and winter, whilst also preparing for winter demand pressures. This will be done alongside continued vigilance in light of any further COVID-19 surges. The guidance sets out that trusts and systems are now expected to re-establish (and where necessary redesign) services to deliver through their own local NHS (non-independent sector) capacity the following elective activity levels:- In September, delivering at least 80% of last year’s activity for both overnight electives and for outpatient/daycase procedures, rising to 90% in October;- Return to at least 90% of their last year’s levels of MRI/CT and endoscopy procedures, with the goal to reach 100% by October; and- 100% of last year’s activity for first outpatient attendances and follow-ups (face to face or virtually) from September through the balance of the year (and aiming for 90% in August).

Department of Health and Social Care: Staff

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many roles in his Department have either equality, diversity or inclusion in the job title.

Edward Argar: The Department is committed to Diversity and Inclusion (D&I), with a strategy which aims to create an inclusive culture where difference is valued, diversity is harnessed, and everyone has equal opportunity to achieve their potential.Within the Department we have 10 posts which have either ‘equality, diversity or inclusion’ in the job title. Seven of these roles are within Human Resources and the remaining are in the different business areas.Within the Department, there are also five posts with ‘inequalities’ in the job title and two posts with ‘neurodiversity’ in the job title.In addition to this, we have visible Senior D&I Champions in place and their role includes sponsorship and aligning priorities and forward plans with staff networks. The Departmental Champions works with other Civil Service D&I Champions to push forward the diversity and inclusion agenda across the Civil Service.

Surgery: Coronavirus

Lee Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to increase the number of elective surgeries before a potential second wave of covid-19.

Edward Argar: On 31 July, further guidance was issued to local National Health Service providers and commissioners on outlining the next phase of the NHS response to COVID-19 and concurrent non- COVID-19 activity. Focus is on accelerating the return of non- COVID-19 health services to near-normal levels, including making full use of available capacity between now and winter, whilst also preparing for winter demand pressures. This will be done alongside continued vigilance in light of any further COVID-19 surges. The guidance sets out that trusts and systems are now expected to re-establish (and where necessary redesign) services to deliver through their own local NHS (non-independent sector) capacity the following elective activity levels:- In September, delivering at least 80% of last year’s activity for both overnight electives and for outpatient/daycase procedures, rising to 90% in October;- Return to at least 90% of their last year’s levels of MRI/CT and endoscopy procedures, with the goal to reach 100% by October; and- 100% of last year’s activity for first outpatient attendances and follow-ups (face to face or virtually) from September through the balance of the year (and aiming for 90% in August).

NHS Trusts: Influenza

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to his Answer of 3 July 2020 to Question 64076, what recent assessment he has made of the capacity of acute NHS Hospital Trusts in England to manage a seasonal flu outbreak combined with a significant increase in covid-19 cases.

Edward Argar: As outlined in the answer on 3 July 2020, the Government continues to support the National Health Service to manage winter pressures. The flu vaccination programme will be a critical part of preparing the United Kingdom for winter, and to manage pressures on the NHS should we have co-circulation of seasonal flu and COVID-19 this winter.In July, the Prime Minister announced £3 billion to support NHS capacity this winter. In addition, in August a further £300 million of capital funding was announced to upgrade accident and emergency departments across the country to help prepare the NHS for winter.Guidance has already been issued to the NHS on the process of starting to restore urgent non-COVID services in a safe way, whilst ensuring surge capacity can be stood up again should it be needed.

Coronavirus: Prisons

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has provided to prisons on protecting the health and safety of prisoners held permanently in their cells as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Public Health England has published guidance for managing COVID-19 in prisons and other places of detention. The guidance was updated on 4 August and is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-prisons-and-other-prescribed-places-of-detention-guidanceAll prison healthcare providers are expected to operate in line with this guidance.

Coronavirus: Leicester

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the medical and scientific advice that he received which informed the decision to shut the schools in Leicester during the local covid-19 lockdown.

Ms Nadine Dorries: At all times during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government’s response has been guided by the latest scientific advice. The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) provides scientific advice to support United Kingdom decision-makers during emergencies. In recognition of the importance of transparency in these unprecedented times, SAGE has been publishing the statements and the accompanying evidence it has reviewed online on GOV.UK to demonstrate how the scientific understanding of COVID-19 has continued to evolve as new data emerges, and how SAGE’s advice has quickly adapted to new findings that reflect a changing situation.The scientific advice on reintroduction of measures and their impact on rate of infection was published on GOV.UK on 10 July.

Personal Care Services: Leicester

Alberto Costa: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to allow beauty salons in the Leicester Lockdown Area to reopen.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Additional businesses and venues were allowed to reopen in Leicester City from 19 August. This included nail bars and salons, tanning booths and salons, spas and beauty salons, massage parlours although close contact services, which are any treatments on the face, should not reopen.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what public awareness campaigns the Government plans to undertake on arrangements in relation to local lockdowns in the next two months.

Ms Nadine Dorries: We are delivering a tailored campaign approach to local areas on the ‘watchlist’. Activities include messaging on key protective behaviours – social distancing, hand washing, and use of face coverings; as well as testing and isolation for those who have symptoms.We are developing national, regional and local partnerships to facilitate disseminating information, particularly among more specific communities and religious groups. We are supporting the development of communications toolkits to assist local authorities around specific events that present risks, including religious festivals. A wide range of assets and community support initiatives have also been developed for local use; sharing best practices and training sessions; translations in up to 11 languages; central funding for specific local translation needs not met by existing content.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to prevent a second covid-19 wave.

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to prepare for a potential second wave of covid-19 during winter 2020-21.

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to prepare for a potential second wave of covid-19 during winter 2020-21.

Abena Oppong-Asare: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to prepare for a potential second wave of covid-19 during the 2020-21 winter.

Edward Argar: To prepare the National Health Service for winter, the Government is providing an additional £3 billion of funding. This includes funding to allow the NHS to maintain the Nightingale surge capacity and continue to use the extra hospital capacity available within the independent sector.Effective local management of any outbreaks is the first line of protection against a second wave that might overwhelm the NHS. To support local authorities, we made £300 million available and they already have robust plans in place to respond to outbreaks.We have also made significant strides in our Test and Trace service. We have established one of the world’s largest testing programmes, with capacity at around 350,000 tests every day and we have already traced around 250,000 people who may have unknowingly spread the virus.NHS winter preparations include delivering a very significantly expanded seasonal flu vaccination programme for priority groups.

Food: Procurement

Paula Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the supply chains of companies providing medical nutrition products are not adversely affected by the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

Edward Argar: With negotiations with the European Union ongoing, the Government is committed to achieving a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the EU by December 2020 that ensures zero tariffs and zero quotas on United Kingdom-EU trade. However, if no FTA is agreed then the UK Global Tariff (UKGT) will apply to imports from the EU.As part of the UKGT, the Government is dropping tariffs to zero across a wide range of products which are used in UK production, reducing the cost pressures of inputs into UK manufacturing.

Health Services: Stoke-on-Trent

Jonathan Gullis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase NHS capacity at the (a) Royal Stoke University Hospital and (b) Haywood Walk-In Centre in Stoke-on-Trent for the winter 2020-21.

Edward Argar: Guidance has already been issued to the National Health Service on the process of starting to restore urgent non-COVID-19 services in a safe way, whilst ensuring surge capacity can be stood up again should it be needed. In July, the Prime Minister announced £3 billion to support NHS capacity this winter. In addition to this, in August a further £300 million of capital funding was announced to upgrade accident and emergency (A&E) departments across the country to help prepare the NHS for winter.At Royal Stoke University Hospital, plans to increase capacity include investment to support the creation of additional critical care capacity and to support Infection Prevention and Control isolation capacity on COVID-19/flu wards at Royal Stoke.Work is also underway to encourage use of the Haywood Walk-In Centre for minor injuries, and to establish a sub-acute unit to support ‘medically fit’ patients who are awaiting placements in order to free-up assessment and acute beds at Royal Stoke. Staffing will be increased in response to predicted surges throughout the winter period.

Coronavirus: Food

Jane Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that people requiring specialist medical food products have been able to access them during the covid-19 pandemic.

Edward Argar: The Department has worked closely with the specialist medical feed producers throughout the COVID-19 response to ensure that specialist feeds are available to patients that require them.

Out-patients

Stuart Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to ensure that people who require outpatient services have access to them as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.

Edward Argar: As outlined in the latest guidance issued to local National Health Service providers and commissioners on the next phase of the NHS response to COVID-19, trusts and systems are now expected to deliver 100% of their last year’s activity for first outpatient attendances and follow-ups (face to face or virtually) from September, through the balance of the year. This is to be done by re-establishing (and where necessary, redesigning) services to deliver through their own local NHS (non-independent sector) capacity. To reduce infection risk and to support social distancing, clinicians have been advised to consider avoiding asking patients to attend physical outpatient appointments where a clinically appropriate and accessible alternative exists. The guidance is available via the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/07/Phase-3-letter-July-31-2020.pdf

Health Services

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress the NHS has made in resuming non-covid-19 related work in hospitals and surgeries in England.

Edward Argar: The National Health Service has continued to progress with resuming non-COVID-19 services. There was an increase of 13% in patients beginning their first cancer treatment within 31 days following a decision to treat in June 2020 compared to May, whilst the number of completed admitted pathways following a consultant-led referral for treatment increased by 73% over the same period.As the NHS has continued to restore services, further guidance was issued to local NHS providers and commissioners on 31 July outlining the next phase of the NHS response to COVID-19 and concurrent non-COVID-19 activity. The focus is on accelerating the return of non-COVID-19 health services to near-normal levels, including making full use of available capacity between now and winter, whilst also preparing for winter demand pressures. This will be done alongside continued vigilance in light of any further COVID-19 spikes locally and possibly nationally.

Health Services

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to develop plans to tackle the effect of delayed care in people's health after the end of the covid-19 outbreak.

Edward Argar: On 31 July, further guidance was issued to local National Health Service providers and commissioners on outlining the next phase of the NHS response to COVID-19 and concurrent non-COVID-19 activity. Focus is on accelerating the return of non-COVID-19 health services to near-normal levels, including making full use of available capacity between now and winter, whilst also preparing for winter demand pressures.General practice, community and optometry services have been advised, where clinically appropriate, to reach out proactively to clinically vulnerable patients and those whose care may have been delayed. Trusts, working with general practitioner practices, have been asked to ensure that every patient whose planned care has been disrupted by COVID-19 receives clear communication about how they will be looked after, and who to contact in the event that their clinical circumstances change. Clinically urgent patients should continue to be treated first, with priority then given to the longest waiting patients, specifically those breaching or at risk of breaching 52 weeks by the end of March 2021.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Israel: United Arab Emirates

Mark Jenkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Israeli and Emirati counterparts on the normalisation of relations between those nations.

James Cleverly: We welcome the announcement of an agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This is an historic step which sees the normalisation of relations between two great friends of the UK. The Foreign Secretary travelled to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories on 25 August, where he met with the Israeli leadership, including Prime Minister Netanyahu. We welcome both the decision to normalise relations, as well as the suspension of plans for annexation - a move the UK has opposed as it would have been counterproductive to securing peace in the region. On his return, the Foreign Secretary spoke to UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, to offer congratulations on the agreement with Israel. Sheikh bin Zayed emphasised his conviction that the deal was an opportunity to renew efforts toward peace in the Middle East. We will continue to work together in support of this goal.

Georgia: Overseas Aid

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2020 to Question 60839, what steps he is taking to ensure that the UK’s Good Governance Fund in Georgia is focused on (a) anti-corruption and (b) improving the business environment; and whether he holds information on recent decisions taken by the Georgian Government against foreign investors ni relation to the Anaklia Port project and the takeover of Caucasus Online.

Wendy Morton: The UK's Good Governance Fund (GGF) in Georgia is focused on public administration reform and the strengthening of parliamentary processes, in order to address institutional weaknesses and tackle corruption. It also supports direct dialogue between the Georgia Government and investors designed to improve the business environment. The GGF Programme Teams in Tbilisi and London use robust tendering and monitoring processes to ensure GGF-funded programmes deliver on these priorities. The British Embassy in Tbilisi is aware of developments around the Anaklia Port project and Caucasus Online, and will continue to monitor the situation.

Mediterranean Region: Politics and Government

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with the EU on increased tensions in the eastern Mediterranean between Turkey, Greece and Cyprus.

Wendy Morton: We are concerned by the continuing instability within the Eastern Mediterranean region. We continue to urge all countries involved to de-escalate and to engage in dialogue. The Foreign Secretary raised this with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, on 8 July. He has also discussed this with the Foreign Ministers of Germany, France and Turkey. I have raised this with my Turkish, Greek and Cypriot counterparts in recent weeks. We believe it is critical for stability in the Eastern Mediterranean that disputes are resolved through constructive dialogue in accordance with international law, including as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Mediterranean Region: Politics and Government

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the political and security situation in the eastern Mediterranean as a result of increased tensions between Turkey, Greece and Cyprus.

Wendy Morton: We are concerned by the continuing instability within the Eastern Mediterranean region. We continue to urge all countries involved to de-escalate and to engage in dialogue. The Foreign Secretary raised this with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, on 8 July. He has also discussed this with the Foreign Ministers of Germany, France and Turkey. I have raised this with my Turkish, Greek and Cypriot counterparts in recent weeks. We believe it is critical for stability in the Eastern Mediterranean that disputes are resolved through constructive dialogue in accordance with international law, including as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Equality

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he has taken to ensure his Department's management board is diverse in terms of (a) gender, (b) ethnicity and (c) experience.

Nigel Adams: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Iran: Refugees

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made representations to (a) his counterpart in Iran and (b) the Iranian embassy on (i) allegations that (A) a number of Afghan refugees were killed in a recent car fire started by Iranian officers shooting at the vehicle and (B) others were drowned after being forced into a river at gunpoint and (ii) other reports of mistreatment of Afghan refugees by the Iranian authorities.

James Cleverly: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Iran: Refugees

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make representations at the next UN Security Council meeting on (a) allegations that (i) a number of Afghan refugees were killed in a recent car fire started by Iranian officers shooting at the vehicle and (ii) others were drowned after being forced into a river at gunpoint and (b) other reports of mistreatment of those refugees by the Iranian authorities.

James Cleverly: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Libya: Freezing of Assets

Simon Hoare: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Libyan Investment Authority and (b) his counterparts at the UN on the potential variation of the terms under which Qadhafi-era assets are frozen in the UK.

James Cleverly: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: South America

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many staff in his Department are dedicated to South America.

Wendy Morton: The majority of FCDO staff working on South American issues are deployed in our large network of embassies and consulates around the region. In the UK,?staff across?a number of?FCDO directorates spend all or a part of their time working on issues concerning South American countries,?and our network in the continent. It is not possible to put a specific figure on this.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: South America

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what effect the merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development will have on the Government's priorities and objectives in South America.

Wendy Morton: The creation of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is an important opportunity to increase Britain's influence around the world, while protecting and advancing our interests and values, including in South America. We will be developing policy and programmes reflecting the breadth of expertise and knowledge in the new Department.?South America is an increasingly important partner for the UK's global ambitions. We will be ambitious about taking the opportunity?that?our new Department's creation,?and the UK's departure from the EU will give us to strengthen partnerships with all those countries in the region that share our values and support a rules-based international system.The?FCDO's mission statement commits us to pursuing UK national interests. Together with the Department for International Trade,?we will be working hard to grow UK trade with the region,?and to maintain and improve market access for British companies. It commits us to projecting the UK as a force for good in the world,?and we will continue to support the rule of law, justice,?and good governance through programmes and projects across the region, also working with partners in the region to advance our climate agenda.

Mauritius: Oil

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Mauritian Government on whether steps will be taken against the Japanese firm responsible for causing the Mauritian oil spill in August 2020.

James Duddridge: The UK Government is in close contact with the Mauritian Government on providing support to monitor and limit the impact of the oil spill. In phone calls with the Mauritian Foreign Minister on 14 and 19 August, I offered the UK's support and asked Mauritius how best we could assist in the aftermath of the spill. The UK subsequently deployed three ecology experts from the UK's Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, and an additional expert to provide legal and technical advice to assist with the safe disposal of the stricken ship. I spoke to the UK experts in-country on 3 September to hear first-hand how their work is contributing to managing the environmental impacts of the disaster. Any action against the Japanese owners of the breached vessel is a matter for the Government of Mauritius. There are recognised international systems in place for pursuing liability and compensation.

Independent Commission for Aid Impact

Theo Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) and the Sub-Committee on the Work of the ICAI will be retained following the merger of his Department and the Department for International Development; and if he will make it his policy to (a) publish all ICAI reports that have already been commissioned and (b) allow the ICAI Sub-Committee to scrutinise those reports.

James Duddridge: The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) will continue to scrutinise aid spending. The publication of all ICAI reports will continue, including those commissioned prior to the merger.The Foreign Secretary is committed to thorough parliamentary scrutiny of UK aid. With the formation of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the House of Commons may wish to reconfigure the select committee structure. The Government's view is that select committees should generally mirror government departments. We will reflect carefully on the recommendations of the International Development Committee and the Liaison Committee before bringing forward motions to change the existing committee structures for the House to agree later in the year.

Palestinians: Curriculum

Christian Wakeford: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 July 2020 to Question 76939 on Palestinians: Textbooks, what mechanisms are in place for scrutiny of the updated Palestinian Authority curriculum for the academic year in September 2020.

James Cleverly: The UK Government remains deeply concerned about allegations of incitement in the Palestinian Authority's (PA) curriculum. Anti-Semitism, violence and hate have no place in society. We repeatedly raise our concerns with the highest levels of the PA. The Foreign Secretary did so with the Palestinian Prime Minister and Minister for Education on his most recent visit. We welcome the PA's work to revise its textbooks and their intention to publish updated content for the start of the school year in September 2020.Following UK calls for action, our European Partners commissioned the Georg Eckert Institute to conduct an independent review of Palestinian textbooks, which is currently underway. We have regular discussions with our European Partners on the review and continue to encourage them to finalise the report as soon as possible. We await the findings of the review, due later this year.

Malnutrition: International Assistance

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the G20 on the funding and distribution of emergency cash transfers to tackle increasing rates of malnutrition.

James Cleverly: Prevention and treatment of malnutrition remains a priority for the UK as part of our commitment to end the preventable deaths of mothers, newborns and children, particularly as countries face worsening levels of malnutrition in the face of COVID-19. The Foreign Secretary recently reiterated our commitment to alleviate extreme hunger and malnutrition through a £119 million package of support to avert famine and reduce the negative impact of COVID-19 on food security.In April the UK worked closely with other G20 members to agree a statement of the G20 Agriculture Ministers committing to close cooperation and action to safeguard global food security and nutrition. This included the commitment to work together to help ensure that sufficient, safe, affordable, and nutritious food continues to be available and accessible to all people.The UK is a strong supporter of multipurpose cash transfers to meet the emergency needs of populations affected by crisis. We have scaled up our use of cash in response to COVID-19, in particular supporting national social protection programmes to provide emergency cash. Cash transfers are a flexible, efficient, secure and empowering way of helping affected communities meet their needs, including those relating to nutrition.

Developing Countries: Coronavirus

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to support small, medium and large UK-based international development charities working to tackle the covid19 pandemic in the global south.

Wendy Morton: Civil society organisations based in the UK and in developing countries are playing a very valuable role in the global response to COVID-19. There are a number of channels through which we are providing funding directly to civil society organisations (CSOs) to support vulnerable people around the world during this crisis.We have allocated £18 million to charities through the Rapid Response Facility and over £24 million through our partnership with Unilever. In May, a new UK Aid Direct funding round was launched to support small and medium CSOs who can help us meet the challenges posed by COVID-19. In addition, we announced that we will match up to £10 million of donations from the British public to the Disasters Emergency Committee's (DEC) new Coronavirus Appeal which will fund the work of 14 UK aid agencies to tackle the pandemic among displaced people in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, DRC, Syria, Afghanistan, as well as the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. We have also made a contribution of £3.3 million to the Start Network providing rapid, short-term funding for humanitarian responses through its network of over 50 members. It has already funded 35 projects in 22 countries through its COVID-19 window.

China: Human Rights

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the prevalence of human rights abuses against (a) Uighur Muslims and (b) Christians in China; and if he will make a statement.

Nigel Adams: We have serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang including the extra-judicial detention of over a million Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in "political re-education camps", systematic restrictions on Uyghur culture and the practice of Islam, and extensive and invasive surveillance targeting minorities.We also remain deeply concerned about the persecution of Christians and other religious groups on the grounds of their religion or belief in China. The freedom to practise, change or share ones faith or belief without discrimination or violent opposition is a human right that all people should enjoy.

Caribbean: Overseas Aid

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the total budget was this year for DFID's Caribbean programme; and with reference to his 22 July announcement of cuts to the aid budget of £2.9bn, how much will be cut from the programme's proposed spend.

Wendy Morton: Revised ODA allocations for 2020/21 will be published by HM Treasury at Autumn Budget. The next step will be to discuss specific savings with suppliers and partners and revised ODA allocations will be published in due course after this has been completed.The Statistics for International Development published in 2021 will provide a full breakdown of the UK's ODA spend for 2020.

Palestinians: Recognition of States

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has held with his counterparts in other European states on reaching a co-ordinated recognition of the State of Palestine after the end of the transition period.

James Cleverly: We are clear that we want to see the creation of a sovereign, independent and viable Palestinian state - living in peace and security, side by side with Israel. The UK will recognise a Palestinian state at a time when it best serves the objective of peace. Bilateral recognition in itself cannot end the occupation. Without a negotiated settlement the occupation and the problems that come with it will continue. We continue to work closely with international partners strongly advocating a two-state solution and encouraging a return to meaningful negotiations.

Iran: Arms Trade

Gareth Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 July 2020 to Question 71913, what progress has been made in discussions with international partners to address the expiry of the UN conventional arms embargo on Iran in October 2020.

James Cleverly: We have serious concerns regarding the implications for regional security of the scheduled expiry of the UN conventional arms embargo. We are considering all options both inside and outside of the UN Security Council (UNSC). We continue to be guided by the need to uphold the authority and integrity of the UNSC and to advance regional security and stability.

Arab States: Israel

Scott Benton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is working with the US Administration to encourage Arab states to follow the United Arab Emirates' example and agree a peace deal with Israel.

James Cleverly: The UK welcomed the historic Israel-United Arab Emirates normalisation deal. The Foreign Secretary discussed wider US efforts to normalise Israel and Arab state ties in a meeting with Jared Kushner on 3 September, following both of their recent visits to the Middle East. The UK welcomes all efforts towards peace and we continue to work closely with international partners strongly advocating a two-state solution and a regional approach to peace. We believe that negotiations on a two state solution will only succeed when they are conducted between Israelis and Palestinians, but international action has a role in facilitating progress. The changing regional context and converging Arab and Israeli interests presents an opening to develop Arab-Israeli relations and create the conditions for serious Israeli-Palestinian talks to resume. The Arab League and Arab states have a key role in the peace process and we are in close contact on this issue.

Bahrain: Legal Profession

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his counterpart in Bahrain on the persecution of lawyers in that country; and whether he has made recent representations on the cases of Abdullah Al-Shamlawi and Abdulla Hashem, on their prosecution being reviewed and on the disciplinary proceedings against them being discontinued.

James Cleverly: We are aware of these cases. Abdullah Al Shamlawi has appealed his conviction and is on bail pending a 14 September hearing at the Court of Appeals. The Criminal Court heard Abdulla Hashem's case in August but has not yet reached a verdict which is expected at the next hearing on 29 September.The UK supports freedom of expression and freedom of speech as both a fundamental right, and as an essential element of a full range of human rights. We continue to encourage the Government of Bahrain to protect freedom of expression for all its citizens, in line with its international obligations.

Riot Control Weapons: USA

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the evidential basis was for the conclusion in the re-assessment of exports of riot control equipment to the US conducted by his Department in June 2020 that there was no clear risk that UK-exported equipment had been used, or might be used in future, to violate the (a) right to life, liberty and the security of person and (b) right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

James Cleverly: Information collated from independent press coverage, social media reports, statements and reports from the UN and EU, reports from Non-Governmental Organisations and from diplomatic missions across the USA formed the evidential basis for the conclusion of the reassessment.

Iran: Coronavirus

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of (a) the level of risk to British-Iranian detainees held in Tehran's Evin prison of contracting covid-19 and (b) the access to healthcare for British-Iranian detainees held in Tehran's Evin prison in the event that they contract covid-19.

James Cleverly: The Government remains extremely concerned about all our British-Iranian dual nationals detained in Iran. We understand that President Rouhani has publically acknowledged some inmates have been diagnosed with COVID-19. We routinely discuss with Iran our concerns relating to the risks posed by COVID-19 in Iran and have provided funding to the UN to help combat the rapid spread of the disease. We also call for the urgent release of all dual national detainees on humanitarian grounds. The welfare of all British nationals imprisoned in Iran remains our top priority. We continue to raise their cases at the most senior levels, and discuss them at every opportunity with our Iranian counterparts.

Anoosheh Ashoori

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2020 to Question 74548, what additional recent discussions he has had with his Iranian counterpart on the return of the detained British national Anoosheh Ashoori to the UK.

James Cleverly: The Government remains extremely concerned about all British dual nationals detained in Iran, including Anoosheh Ashoori. Iran does not recognise dual nationality and therefore does not permit access to British-Iranian detainees. We continue to urge the Iranian Government to immediately release all British-Iranian nationals arbitrarily detained in Iran to enable them to return to their families in the UK. The welfare of British-Iranian citizens in Iran is also of paramount importance, and we call on Iran to uphold its commitments under international law to treat all detainees in line with international standards. We have continued to raise the cases of British-Iranian nationals detained in Iran at the most senior levels, and discuss them at every opportunity with our Iranian counterparts.

Overseas Aid: Coronavirus

Virginia Crosbie: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking support countries whose Official Development Assistance funding has been reduced as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

James Cleverly: Difficult decisions have been necessary to identify the savings needed to ensure we meet the 0.7 per cent commitment this year. The Foreign Secretary chaired a review process across government looking at all strands of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, evaluating the impacts of spend and making sure the UK can maintain operational capacity. This process also has made sure there is continued support for five ODA priorities; bottom billion poverty reduction, climate change, girls' education, COVID-19 and Britain as a force for good.

Qatar: Saudi Arabia

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when his Department last participated in multi-national discussions on the diplomatic relationship between Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

James Cleverly: The UK is a longstanding partner of both Qatar and Saudi Arabia. We urge all sides to engage with Kuwaiti mediation efforts and take steps to find a resolution to intra-GCC dispute, which is in the long term interests of all parties. The UK maintains working-level discussions with the GCC, including technical discussions on cyber security, aid transparency, and marine environmental protection.

Russia: Syria

Alyn Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Russian counterpart on alleged Russian intervention in Syria; and whether he has taken diplomatic steps in response to that alleged intervention.

James Cleverly: We have repeatedly condemned Russia and the Syrian regime's targeting of schools, hospitals and emergency first responders in north-west Syria, as described by the UN Commission of Inquiry and the UN Board of Inquiry. On 19 August we expressed our deep concern to the UN Security Council at further airstrikes by Russian and regime forces and again called on all parties to respect agreed ceasefires and international humanitarian law. We continue to support UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which calls for a nationwide ceasefire as part of a political process, as the only way to end the Syrian conflict. UK Government officials also continue to raise these concerns with their Russian counterparts.

Arab States: Israel

Mark Jenkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support his Department is providing to help expand Israel’s relations with the Arab world.

James Cleverly: The UK welcomed the historic Israel-United Arab Emirates normalisation deal, and supports all efforts towards peace. The UK is committed to making progress towards a two-state solution and is strongly supportive of a regional approach to peace. We believe that negotiations will only succeed when they are conducted between Israelis and Palestinians, but international action has a role in facilitating progress. The changing regional context and converging Arab and Israeli interests presents an opening to develop Arab-Israeli relations and create the conditions for serious Israeli-Palestinian talks to resume. The Arab League and Arab states have a key role in the peace process and we are in close contact on this issue.

Yemen: Peace Negotiations

Dr Luke Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what progress his Department is making on facilitating a positive solution to the conflict in Yemen.

James Cleverly: The UK continues to support the efforts of the UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths to secure the Yemeni parties' agreement to his proposals for a nationwide ceasefire, humanitarian confidence-building measures and a resumption of the UN-led political process. We engage regularly with international partners on Yemen, including through our role as penholder in the UN Security Council. On 2 September, the Prime Minister discussed Yemen with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. On 24 August I spoke with Yemeni Foreign Minister Hadhrami about the peace process and developments in the South. On 1 July, the Foreign Secretary wrote a joint op-ed with his Swedish and German counterparts calling for the international community to back peace efforts.

Yemen: Armed Conflict

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the recent alleged downing of a US-operated AeroVironment RQ-20 Puma drone by Houthi rebels in Yemen on (a) the Yemeni civil war and (b) relations between Iran and the West.

James Cleverly: We are aware of reports that the Houthis recently downed a US drone, but we have seen no evidence to corroborate these reports. We are clear that continued Houthi violence only makes a peaceful resolution to the Yemeni civil war less likely. We continue to urge all parties to de-escalate, participate in positive dialogue and engage with the peace process led by UN Special Envoy, Martin Griffiths.We are also deeply concerned by the findings of the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen that military equipment of Iranian origin was introduced into Yemen after the imposition of the targeted arms embargo. This puts Iran in non-compliance with Security Council Resolution 2216 (2015) and reaffirms our concerns about destabilising Iranian activity in Yemen and the wider region. We have raised these concerns with the Iranian Government.

Riot Control Weapons: USA

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many and which incidents were examined as part of the re-assessment of exports of riot control equipment to the US conducted by his Department in June 2020 in order to determine whether they have potentially (a) constituted breaches of Criterion 2a of the Consolidated Criteria for Arms Export Licensing and (b) amounted to a pattern of activity likely to create a risk of such breaches.

James Cleverly: Export Control Joint Unit collated information from a broad range of sources. Reports by Amnesty International, US Press Freedom Tracker and Bellingcat, as well as incidents flagged prominently as being of particular concern by Non-Governmental Organisations, media organisations and reporting from the diplomatic missions across the USA, were considered in more detail.

Riot Control Weapons: USA

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the evidential basis was for the conclusion in the re-assessment of exports of riot control equipment to the US conducted by his Department in June 2020 that there was no clear risk that UK-exported equipment had been used, or might be used in future, to inflict or enforce (a) cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, (b) arbitrary detentions and (c) serious violence against women and children.

James Cleverly: Information collated from independent press coverage, social media reports, statements and reports from the UN and EU, reports from Non-Governmental Organisations and from diplomatic missions across the USA formed the evidential basis for the conclusion of the reassessment.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Religion

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations he has received from faith leaders on the merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development.

James Duddridge: The Government continues to engage with all relevant stakeholders on issues relating to the merger. We believe that faith and belief leaders have a valuable role to play in promoting Freedom of Religion or Belief and in other areas, particularly in regards to other human rights issues, and we continue to work with them closely.Ministers in Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the former Foreign and Commonwealth Office and former Department for International Development have received correspondence regarding the merger of these latter two departments from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the International Group of The Church of Wales and Amanda Mukwashi, CEO of Christian Aid.Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon has also responded to an oral question on the merger in the House from the Lord Bishop of Rochester on 27 July 2020.The Government will continue its ongoing engagement with UK and international NGOs on issues relating to the merger.

Maira Shahbaz

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to hold discussions with his Pakistani counterpart to raise concerns on the recent ruling of Lahore High Court in Pakistan in favour of a man who kidnapped at gunpoint a 14-year-old Christian girl, Maira Shahbaz, and allegedly fabricated a marriage certificate and forced her to convert to Islam.

Nigel Adams: We are closely monitoring Maira Shahbaz's case following her reported abduction in April. We are concerned about women's and girls' rights and ongoing reports of forced marriage and forced conversion in Pakistan, including such reports of this happening to women and girls from religious minorities such as Hindus, Christians and Sikhs. The UK Government strongly condemns the forced marriage and forced conversion of women and girls.We regularly raise our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief, women and girl's rights and gender equality with the government of Pakistan at a senior level. Most recently, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon raised our human rights concerns with Pakistan's Minister for Human Rights, Dr Shireen Mazari, on 15 July.

British Overseas Territories: Coronavirus

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support the Government provided to British Overseas Territories to help them tackle the effects of the covid-19 pandemic.

Wendy Morton: The safety and security of those in the British Overseas Territories (OTs) is a UK Government priority. The UK Government has been working with the OTs to support their healthcare systems throughout the pandemic. To date, we have funded, procured and delivered medical supplies to all inhabited OTs (except Pitcairn, which has had no confirmed cases of COVID-19), delivered testing systems to six territories and boosted testing capabilities in three other OTs. The Government has supported OTs' efforts to source and recruit additional medical personnel, and healthcare professionals from Public Health England continue to provide technical advice and guidance. We have also been working closely with the OTs to assess their exposure and resilience to the economic shock caused by the pandemic and are considering requests from territory governments for additional economic support and funding on a case-by-case basis. We are looking to the territories firstly to make full use of their own financial resources in order to address the needs of their citizens. Economic support from the UK Government will be to complement comprehensive local responses, be subject to need, and require good governance.We have been working with OT Governments to understand the impact of the pandemic on security and have provided in-Territory support in the form of Security Assistance Teams to a small number of OTs. We stand ready to provide additional tailored support as needed and if requested. The UK brought forward the deployment of RFA Argus to provide resilience to some of our most vulnerable OTs in the Caribbean. Since the start of the pandemic, we have worked with territories to arrange flights to the Caribbean and the South Atlantic, flying residents of the OTs home from the UK as well as repatriating British Citizens and other nationalities from the Bahamas, Bermuda, Turks and Caicos Islands, the Cayman Islands and St Helena. We have also repatriated people from Ascension and the Falkland Islands using regular RAF flights. As well as providing access routes in and out for the people of the OTs, we are working to mitigate the problems around transport access caused by the pandemic to minimise shortages in food, fuel and medical supplies. The OTs are facing an unprecedented challenge, and in addition to the urgent assistance already delivered, we will support the territories as they deal with the medium and longer-term economic, public health and other impacts of the pandemic.

Pakistan: Religious Freedom

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Pakistani counterpart on taking steps against the alleged discrimination and conversion of Hindu minority community and others in that country.

Nigel Adams: We remain deeply concerned by reports of discrimination and violence against religious minorities, including reports of forced marriage and forced conversion of Hindu, Christian and Sikh women and girls, in Pakistan. The UK Government strongly condemns the forced marriage and forced conversion of women and girls from religious minorities in Pakistan.We regularly raise our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief, women and girl's rights and gender equality with the government of Pakistan at a senior level. Most recently, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon raised our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief with Pakistan's Minister for Human Rights, Dr Shireen Mazari, on 15 July.

USA: International Criminal Court

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his US counterpart on the decision by the US administration to impose sanctions on staff of the International Criminal Court.

Nigel Adams: The UK regrets the recent decision of the US administration to impose sanctions on International Criminal Court (ICC) personnel. The UK has always been, and remains, a strong supporter of an effective ICC. While we believe that positive reform is required for the ICC to fulfil its mandate as intended under the Rome Statute - and we are working with the Court and other States Parties to achieve this, we also believe that Court officials must be able to carry out their work independently and impartially, without fear of sanction. We continue to discuss these issues with our international partners.

British Overseas Territories: Companies

Dame Margaret Hodge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what (a) technical and (b) financial support the Government has (i) provided and (ii) offered to the Overseas Territories to enable them to introduce publicly accessible beneficial ownership registers by 2023.

Wendy Morton: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is providing all reasonable assistance to enable each of the Territories' governments to establish a publicly accessible register of the beneficial ownership of companies registered in their jurisdictions.In July last year the UK Government ran a series of workshops for Territory governments drawing on expertise from a range of UK departments and executive agencies, including Companies House, BEIS and the Home Office, and from the Crown Dependencies. Last November, together with Open Ownership - an organisation which supports countries to introduce beneficial ownership registers - the UK ran webinars for the Territories to scope out individual needs. All Territories now have access to direct, individualised assistance from Open Ownership.The level of financial support offered to Territories depends upon their individual circumstances. Many Overseas Territories are fiscally constrained and their economies have been hit hard by COVID-19. For those Territories most in need, the UK Government will provide financial support.The Government recently welcomed announcements made by Territories' governments committing to the introduction of publicly accessible registers.

Ministry of Justice

Prisoners' Release: Housing

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of prison leavers who have been helped into settled accommodation by his Department’s accommodation support scheme for prison leavers.

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect on the level of homelessness among prison leavers of his Department’s accommodation support scheme for those people.

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect on levels of rehabilitation and reoffending of his Department’s accommodation support scheme for prison leavers.

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the total cost to the public purse of his Department’s accommodation support scheme for prison leavers.

Lucy Frazer: As of 26 August, a total of 420 individuals who had no pre-existing accommodation have had settled accommodation secured by Homelessness Prevention Taskforces (HPTs). This has included individuals’ own accommodation, local authority sourced accommodation, private rented sector, approved premises, and voluntary sector places. These figures are calculated from management information data provided by regional HPTs, and should be considered as indicative and subject to change as the scheme progresses. As part of its Covid-19 response, HMPPS set up seven HPTs to work with local authorities and other partners to find accommodation for offenders released from prison. The taskforces are still active and HMPPS is considering how to continue the work that they have carried out during the pandemic in the long-term. Additionally, the Ministry of Justice secured up to £8.5 million to support individuals at risk of homelessness on their release from prison and help them to move on into permanent accommodation. This scheme commenced in mid-May and concluded on 31 August. The department aims to track the one-year reoffending rates of individuals enrolled on the scheme when this data is available. Given the need to wait 18 months for an offence to occur and to be proven, and for this to be processed by the courts, this data will not be available until spring/summer 2022. Due to the lack of a suitable counterfactual or control group, this monitoring of outcomes will not constitute an assessment of the impact of the scheme on the rehabilitation or reoffending outcomes of individuals.

Probation: Coronavirus

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of probation worker caseloads during the covid-19 outbreak.

Lucy Frazer: The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics showing the total caseload of the 20 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) as well as the National Probation Service (NPS). The latest published figures cover the period from January to March 2020. Figures for the other quarters of 2020 will be published in due course. Figures for total probation caseload are published quarterly in the Offender Management Statistics Bulletin, England and Wales: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly Statistics are also published for HMPPS workforce statistics which currently show NPS staffing levels as well as absence rates up to June 2020.https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-offender-management-service-workforce-statistics Figures on the average caseload of probation officers are not collected centrally. A probation worker’s tasks are not based solely on the number of cases they are managing, but the level of supervision each case requires. From 23 March 2020, all CRCs have been operating an Exceptional Delivery Model (EDM) in accordance with Government advice and guidance on social distancing measures to help stem the rise of the COVID-19 infection rate. The pandemic has posed the department and the CRCs with an unprecedented challenge, and the EDMs have been regularly subjected to robust assurance and management to ensure that the CRCs prioritise their higher risk cases, at the higher end of the Medium-Low risk scale, and to continue to protect the public. CRCs and their staff continue to deliver vital front-line probation services to the service users in their care.

Probation and Remand in Custody: Veterans

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many armed forces veterans were (a) in custody and (b) under the care of the probation service in 2019.

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the record of service information that HM Prisons and Probation Service holds on armed forces veterans in its care.

Lucy Frazer: Since January 2015, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service has actively been recording service in the Armed Forces as part of the screening process for newly received prisoners into custody. Statistics published in October 2019 indicate that as of 30 June 2019, there were 2,105 prisoners in custody in England and Wales that have declared they have been a member of the armed services (including non-UK armed organisations). This represents about 4% of the custodial population, and it has been consistently at this level since data collection started.https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/842613/Ex-service_personnel_in_the_prison_population_Q2_2019.pdf The department is due to release the next estimate of the total number of ex-armed service personnel in October 2020, which will include data as of 30 June 2020. Since 2016, a self-declaration form is completed by the National Probation Service at the first point of contact (usually at court) to identify individuals who have been a member of the armed services. As of 30 June 2019, there were 2,544 individuals under probation supervision in England and Wales that have declared they have been a member of the Armed Forces.Identification and recording remain an issue for this group and there is anecdotal evidence that some offenders may be reluctant to disclose having served in the military possibly due to embarrassment to fellow military personnel or family and friends.Nonetheless, HMPPS remains committed to actively trying to identify ex Armed Forces personnel as this enables us to put in place the support they need.

Employment Tribunals Service: Applications

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the current longest waiting times are between an application for an employment tribunal and the date of first hearing, for each employment tribunal office.

Chris Philp: The latest information on the longest waiting times between an application for an employment tribunal and the date of first hearing, for each employment tribunal office is from March 2020 and is set out in the following table.Of the cases with a first hearing in March 20, the maximum time (in weeks) from receipt to first hearing   1 March - 31 March 2020  Single Claims1All Claims2 Aberdeen7676 Birmingham133133 Bristol9999 Cardiff83102 Dundee3342 Edinburgh7373 Glasgow6774 Leeds7070 London Central120120 London South165332 Manchester124124 Newcastle6464 Nottingham113113 Stratford160160 Watford136136 1 Single claims are made by a sole employee/worker, relating to alleged breaches of employment rights.2 Multiple claims are where two or more people bring proceedings arising out of the same facts, usually against a common employer. In this instance the lead multiple claim would be listed for hearing. This table provides the maximum listing time for both single and lead multiple claim cases. Average clearance times for claims in January to March 2020 were 38 weeks for single claims and 90 weeks for all claims. Waiting times are taken from receipt of a claim to the date of the first hearing that can dispose of a case and this data refers to both single and multiple claims. Timeliness is impacted by the complexity of a case, with each one dealt with on its own merits and, as such, some cases can take longer than others and may have one or more case management preliminary hearings listed, in advance of a full hearing. Single claims, whilst made by a sole employee, may contain more than one complex complaint which will require significant case management prior to any hearing. 95% of multiple claims are stayed awaiting decision from a lead claim, as these are usually complex claims involving jurisdictions such as equal pay, holiday pay and pensions, it can take some time for these claims to be dealt with. This explains why the oldest claims in the table exceed six years in length as they spend the majority of this period as a stayed claim The data provided has been taken from a central database and, as such, is management information. Although care is taken when processing the data, it is subject to inaccuracies inherent in a large-scale recording system and is the best data that is available.

Prisons and Probation: Veterans

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment HM Prisons and Probation Service has made of the effect of the prisons and probation system on armed forces veterans in that system.

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what services are available specifically for armed forces veterans in prison and probation services in England and Wales.

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of training for prison staff on (a) pathways to rehabilitation for, (b) the prevalence of mental health challenges among and (c) other elements of working with armed forces veterans in custody.

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether HM Prison and Probation Service has made an assessment of examples of excellence in (a) working with and (b) enabling the rehabilitation of armed forces veterans under its care.

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing dedicated (a) teams and (b) wings for the care of armed forces veterans in the prison service.

Lucy Frazer: The Government is committed to making the UK the best place in the world to be a veteran and has committed £5.7m to supporting ex-armed service personnel in the Criminal Justice System. HMPPS actively tries to identify veterans so that we can be confident that this support reaches those in need. We provide a range of services to support veterans within the Criminal Justice System and work closely with various military charities to do this. For example, the Veterans in Custody Scheme aims to provide a common and collaborative approach to veterans in prisons. It raises awareness to ex-armed service offenders of the support available to them and their families whilst in prison and when preparing for release. The HMPPS Co-Financing Organisation (CFO) has also developed a veteran support map (https://mod.co-financing.org/veteran-support-map/) and this is updated and supported by CFO staff. To further aid specific rehabilitation for veterans, HMPPS CFO is currently commissioning a veteran-specific Activity Hub located within HMP Holme House, which will operate within a single wing of the prison. The overall aims of the veteran wing include, but are not limited to, providing veteran specific support which will enhance the transition into the community, reducing re-offending and providing a “community” environment where the participants are given the tools to help with tasks to contribute to society and lead a law-abiding life. It is of vital importance that staff are appropriately trained. Specialist training is available for HMPPS staff, developed by the Probation Institute and military charities, which focuses on the particular needs of veterans. This training will continue once COVID-19 restrictions are eased. Veterans in custody will also benefit from wider improvements to HMPPS staff mental health training, and we have rolled out improved training for staff to raise their awareness of suicide and self-harm issues. The Government remains committed to ensuring that all veterans, be they on probation or in custody, receive the support they need to engage effectively in their rehabilitation.

Remand in Custody: Visits

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the effect on (a) the maintenance of family ties and (b) the rights and welfare of children who have a parent in custody of virtual visits software in custodial facilities when used by young children.

Lucy Frazer: Video calls were introduced as an emergency measure alongside other measures to help maintain family contact whilst physical visits were suspended because of the COVID-19 outbreak. We continue to learn lessons from this to inform both the current service and longer-term planning in line with the recommendations of Lord Farmer’s review for maintaining family ties. The secure video calls currently operate alongside, not as a replacement for, social visits which started to be reintroduced in July in line with the COVID-19 National Framework for Prison Regimes and Services and following assessments that ensure establishments can operate visits in a COVID-secure manner. There are no restrictions on the age of children who can attend physical visits as long as they are accompanied by an adult. Secure video calls provide another option for families, including those with children of all ages, to stay in touch and are being offered at no cost to families at the current time.

Courts: Criminal Proceedings

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of hearings in the criminal courts have taken place (a) virtually and (b) physically since April 2020.

Chris Philp: The proportion of hearings in the criminal courts, that have taken place virtually and physically is shown in the HMCTS data below:  Number of Hearings by method for the period April to September 2020 (up to 7th September 2020); for Crime jurisdiction  Total number of hearings held, mostly conducted face-to-face146,86234.8%Total number of hearings held, mostly conducted using an audio platform.20,8124.9%Total number of hearings held, mostly conducted using a video platform.169,31640.2%Total number of other hearings conducted.84,48720.0%Total  421,477 NOTES:  Data provided is for Crown and Magistrates only (and excludes multi jurisdictional courts including those which are within scope), therefore the information presented is likely to be an under-representation of the actual totals  Source: HMCTS management information - daily SitRep which may not be completed everyday by all courts  This data is collected as Management Information and therefore maybe subject to ongoing changes and revision Data are management information and are not subject to the same level of checks as official statistics.   The data provided is the most recent available and for that reason might differ slightly from any previously published information.   Data has not been cross referenced with case files.   Initially the Sit Rep report did not fully capture all potential hearing types. As a result the option of “other” was included and predominantly reflects “paper trials”

Pets: Theft

Mr Richard Holden: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) maximum and (b) average sentence is for people convicted of stealing pets in England and Wales.

Chris Philp: There are different theft offences under the Theft Act 1968 any of which could relate to the theft of pets depending on the individual circumstances of the case. Centrally held information on theft offences does not identify if a pet specifically was stolen. The information may be held on court records but to be able to identify cases in which pets were stolen would require access to individual court records which would be of disproportionate cost.

Television Licences: Older People

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the potential cost of imprisoning people aged over 75 who have been prosecuted for not holding a valid TV license.

Chris Philp: No estimate was made of the potential cost of imprisoning people aged over 75 for not holding a valid TV licence by the Ministry of Justice. The lead department on TV licencing is the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DDCMS). The BBC is responsible for the over 75s TV licence fee concession. A person cannot receive a custodial sentence for TV licence evasion but can be committed to prison for wilfully refusing to pay the fine. Imprisonment is only pursued as a matter of last resort. The Ministry of Justice reviewed prosecution data between 1992 and 1999 for TV licence fee evasion, prior to the introduction of the concession, and established that there were no prosecutions of defendants over the age of 75 during this period.

Probate

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average wait is for people telephoning the national Courts and Tribunal Service centres with queries relating to probate applications in the last 12 months.

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the (a) average, (b) shortest and (c) longest time taken to grant probate in the last 12 months.

Chris Philp: The average wait for people telephoning the national Courts and Tribunal Service centre with queries relating to Probate between April 2019 to March 2020 is 2 minutes 21 seconds. The most recently published waiting times for a grant of probate covers July 2019 to March 2020 as March to June 2019 data is subject to data quality issues following the move to a new computer system. All calculations have therefore been calculated based on a 9-month period from July 2019 rather than a 12-month period as requested. The information requested as to the shortest and longest time taken to grant probate in the last 12 months could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The information requested as to the average time taken to grant probate in the last 12 months can be found in the table below: Average time to grant issue for grants of representation, by grant type, England and Wales 1,2, 3, 4  Probate Application submission to grant issueDocument receipt to grant issue3  Mean weeksMedian weeks Mean weeksMedian weeks July 2019 to March 2020 8.16.67.96.4   Source HMCTS Core Case Data 1) HMCTS Core Case Data (CCD) came into effect at the end of March 2019, following a transition between data systems recording information regarding The Probate Service2) The average timeliness figures are produced by calculating the time from application/document receipt (which may be from an earlier period) to the grant issued made in that period. 3) Document receipt occurs after payment has been made and all accompanying paperwork has been received by HMCTS 4) Due to quality issues in the transition between data systems, the breakdown by type of grant has not been published for Q2 2019

HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Video Conferencing

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service has paid to use each Cloud Video Platform room during the covid-19 outbreak.

Chris Philp: Video technology has played a crucial role in enabling thousands of cases to be heard, alongside other measures including recently announced ‘Nightingale Courts’. HMCTS has been steadily increasing the number of Cloud Video Platform (“CVP”) rooms available for use across all jurisdictions. Since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, HMCTS has spent £177,200 on licences to support the use of CVP rooms.

Police Custody: Coronavirus

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many defendants have spent an extra night in police custody as a result of there not being enough time to hear their case during the court day since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.

Chris Philp: Neither HMCTS nor MOJ, hold any data as to the number of defendants who have been held for an additional night in police custody due to lack of court time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Courts: Video Conferencing

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what cost-benefit analysis he has undertaken on defendants appearing by video link rather than being brought to court.

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether more hearings are completed per hour using the Cloud Video Platform in comparison to everyone being present in person in the Magistrates' court.

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Cloud Video Platform on the backlog of court cases.

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of hearings being held on video on criminal justice outcomes during the covid-19 outbreak.

Chris Philp: COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on the Criminal Justice System. We have been innovative and adapted our ways of working to ensure that the courts kept running during the pandemic, including significant increase in the use of digital. Not only have we worked to significantly increase the amount of cases heard via video and audio during this crisis, we have also worked to improve these digital hearings through a national rollout of Cloud Video Platform (CVP). This has enabled us to increase the number of hearings we were able to hear, and since the pandemic thousands of remand hearings have been heard via video, enabling hearings to continue to take place despite the limitations of social distancing.As the CJS recovers from COVID-19, we want to continue improving how the courts use technology and are committed to monitoring and evaluating the impact of the use of video and audio.

Remand in Custody: Coronavirus

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of steps taken by the judiciary in relation to the use of remand during the covid-19 outbreak on the (a) unconvicted and (b) unsentenced population in custody in (i) April, (ii) May, (iii) June, (iv) July (v) and August 2020.

Chris Philp: The use of remand is a judicial matter. Cases where the defendant is held in custody are actively monitored and prioritised with the support of the administration. All cases subject to Custody Time Limits continue to be listed for review to ensure they are heard as a priority.On 27 March 2020 a Custody Time Limit Protocol between the President of the Queen's Bench Division, the Crown Prosecution Service and HMCTS was agreed to establish temporary rules of practice for the efficient and expeditious handling of cases subject to custody time limits.The unsentenced population in custody has remained a priority throughout the COVID pandemic and sentencing hearings continued to be dealt with, even when other criminal court hearings were paused. These cases continue to be prioritised.

Treasury

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

Scott Benton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme through autumn and winter 2020 for (a) the travel industry and (b) other sectors in which trade has been adversely affected by the covid-19 pandemic.

Jesse Norman: After eight months of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the scheme will close in October. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme must be temporary and the Government must ensure people can get back to work when it is safe to do so and get the UK economy up and running again. It would be challenging to target the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to specific sectors in a fair and deliverable way, and it may not be the case that this is the most effective or sensible way to provide longer term support for those sectors most affected by coronavirus. It would also be difficult to target the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme at specific sectors without creating distortion, particularly as some firms work across multiple sectors. There are other schemes, including the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, that can provide support to specific firms.

Multinational Companies: Taxation

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the revenue raised from Diverted Profits Tax.

Jesse Norman: HMRC publish data regarding the Diverted Profits Tax (DPT) on an annual basis. The latest publication covers 2015/16 to 2018/19: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transfer-pricing-and-diverted-profits-tax-statistics-to-2018-to-2019. Additional information about the wider activities and results of the Diverted Profits Project is also available: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transfer-pricing-and-diverted-profits-tax-statistics-to-2018-to-2019/tackling-profit-diversion-by-multinational-companies. This additional information will be updated later this year with data for 2019/20.

Free Zones: Foyle

Colum Eastwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what (a) discussions and (b) meetings his Department has held with the Northern Ireland Executive in delivering a Free Port in the Foyle constituency.

Steve Barclay: We plan to introduce up to 10 Freeports across the UK. Freeports will unleash the potential of our ports, regenerating communities across the UK.We are working with the Devolved Administrations, including the Northern Ireland Executive, to enable the creation of Freeports across all four nations of the UK.Specific locations will be chosen in due course according to a fair, open and transparent allocation process.

Self-employed: Coronavirus

Nick Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he plans to take to support self-employed people whose industries have not re-started during the covid-19 outbreak after the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme closes on 19 October 2020.

Jesse Norman: The Chancellor of the Exchequer has said there will be no further extension or changes to the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). The SEISS will remain open for applications for the second and final grant until 19 October. Some businesses will be affected by coronavirus for longer than others, and the Government will seek to support these businesses appropriately. Those who require more support may be able to benefit from other elements of the comprehensive package of support for individuals and businesses. This package includes Bounce Back loans, tax deferrals, rental support,?increased levels of Universal Credit, mortgage holidays, and other business support grants. More information about the full range of business support measures is available at www.gov.uk/government/collections/financial-support-for-businesses-during-coronavirus-covid-19. As the economy reopens, it is right that state support is reduced and the focus shifts to getting people back to work. On 8 July, the Government introduced the Plan for Jobs which will make available up to £30 billion to assist in creating, supporting and protecting jobs. The Plan supports jobs through the Kickstart Scheme, protects jobs by reducing the level of VAT for the hospitality and accommodation sector, and creates jobs through £8.6 billion of infrastructure, decarbonisation and maintenance projects. This is alongside many other measures that will help support people and kickstart the economic recovery. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-plan-for-jobs-documents/a-plan-for-jobs-2020.

Protective Clothing: VAT

Ben Lake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what VAT rating is given to non-surgical face coverings.

Jesse Norman: Face coverings attract the standard rate of VAT. Non-surgical face masks can be zero-rated for VAT purposes if they protect from infection and are of a type recommended in guidance published by Public Health England (PHE) dated 24 April 2020 in connection with the coronavirus emergency

Sunscreens: VAT

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has any plans to reduce VAT on sunscreen, which is currently not classified as an essential health product.

Jesse Norman: Under the current VAT rules, sun protection products are subject to the standard rate of VAT. High-factor sunscreen is on the NHS prescription list for certain conditions and is provided VAT free when dispensed by a pharmacist. Expanding the scope of the current VAT relief would come at a considerable cost to the Exchequer. Therefore, while all taxes are kept under review, there are currently no plans to reduce VAT on sunscreen products.

Eat Out to Help Out Scheme

John Lamont: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many discounts were claimed as part of the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme in (a) the Scottish Borders, (b) Scotland and (c) the UK.

Jesse Norman: HMRC have published constituency level data, on claims received up to 27 August 2020, on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eat-out-to-help-out-scheme-claims-by-parliamentary-constituency. There are also plans to develop a wider official statistics release for the scheme once the Claims Service closes at the end of September.In addition, HMRC have published data on a weekly basis about registered premises and claims received on GOV.UK.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: Fraud

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many reports have been made of fraudulent abuse of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme through HMRC’s online reporting form.

Jesse Norman: To date, HMRC have received about 8,000 reports via their online and telephone fraud reporting services.

Customs

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) firms and (b) intermediaries hold a customs handling of import and export freight (CHIEF) systems badge; and what the increase was in the number of firms with access to CHIEF in (i) July and (ii) August 2020.

Jesse Norman: There are currently 19,296 business and intermediaries that hold a customs handling of import and export freight (CHIEF) systems badge. The number of CHIEF badges that have been issued increased by 151 across July and August 2020.

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish a list of those organisations who have used the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to furlough staff during the covid-19 lockdown and who are also in receipt of other funding from the public purse.

Jesse Norman: The Government is not able to publish a list of organisations who have used the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and who are also in receipt of other funding from the public purse. Under HMRC’s duty of confidentiality, HMRC cannot publish identifying information that relates to one of their functions. The CJRS is one of HMRC’s functions and publishing a list of organisations would provide identifying information.

Social Enterprises: Tax Allowances

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to extend social investment tax relief by two years while work to review that relief is ongoing, to allow time for alternative structures to be implemented.

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of not delaying the abolition of social investment tax relief until an alternative structure can be implemented.

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations his Department has received on extending Social Investment Tax relief for two years to April 2023.

Jesse Norman: I refer the Honourable Member to the answer that I gave on 3 September to UIN 82342 and 82341.

Hydrogen: Investment

Ben Lake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on supporting private investment in UK hydrogen projects.

Kemi Badenoch: At Spring Budget 2020, the Chancellor announced a commitment of at least £800m for the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in the 2020s. These assets will play an important role in the production of hydrogen made from fossil fuels, known as “blue” hydrogen. Furthermore, in 2019, the Government announced a £100m Low Carbon Hydrogen Production Fund to incentivise future private sector investment in low carbon hydrogen, while earlier this year, the Government published a response to a consultation on CCS business models, including for low carbon hydrogen production. These measures will ensure that the UK economy is well-placed for future strategic decisions on the use of hydrogen, and that the private sector has confidence to provide investment. Treasury Ministers regularly meet with Ministerial colleagues across Government.

Hydrogen: Investment

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on measures to support private investment in UK hydrogen projects.

Kemi Badenoch: At Spring Budget 2020, the Chancellor announced a commitment of at least £800m for the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in the 2020s. These assets will play an important role in the production of hydrogen made from fossil fuels, known as “blue” hydrogen. Furthermore, in 2019, the Government announced a £100m Low Carbon Hydrogen Production Fund to incentivise future private sector investment in low carbon hydrogen, while earlier this year, the Government published a response to a consultation on CCS business models, including for low carbon hydrogen production. These measures will ensure that the UK economy is well-placed for future strategic decisions on the use of hydrogen, and that the private sector has confidence to provide investment.

Financial Services Compensation Scheme

Martyn Day: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will conduct a review of the effect of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme levy on firms required to pay that levy.

John Glen: The Government does not have a role in setting the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) levy. The FSCS is an independent non-governmental body which carries out its compensation function within rules set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), who are themselves also independent from government. The FSCS has said it will be working with industry and regulators to do what it can to address any concerns about updates to this year’s levies.

National Savings and Investments

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had the Chief Executive of National Savings and Investments on increasing the £5,000 probate limit in place on their accounts. .

John Glen: NS&I Regulations require that a Grant of Probate is produced if the amount repayable following the death of a person with NS&I investments is £5,000 or over. NS&I also reserve the right to request a Grant of Representation for a claim of any value. As a government department, NS&I differs from other organisations in the financial services market. Its operations are funded by the taxpayer and so NS&I has a responsibility to ensure public funds are protected and not put at undue risk. When it comes to payments following the death of a person with NS&I investments, NS&I must take every measure to avoid the risk of paying money out in error and subsequently being liable to pay again to another person.

Bank Services: Fraud

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department takes to ensure that banks undertake adequate checks to identify and verify their customers' identity as required under legislation to prevent the opening of fraudulent accounts.

John Glen: The Government takes fraud very seriously and we continue to work closely with industry to close down the vulnerabilities that fraudsters exploit and ensure members of the public have the information they need to spot a scam and stand up to fraudsters. The FCA requires banks to maintain effective systems and controls to prevent the risk that they might be used to further financial crime. The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 also set out the high-level requirements on regulated firms, such as banks, to combat financial crime and ensure that key professionals understand the purpose behind transactions, including the source of funds, and have policies, controls and procedures in place to mitigate against the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing they face. Firms are also required by law to identify and verify their customer’s identity when they establish a business relationship, for example, by opening a bank account. How firms verify their customers' identities is not stipulated in law or by the regulator. For the financial institutions, firms are assisted in making such policies through the industry produced Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (JMLSG) guidance, which is approved by HM Treasury. Each firm will have their own policies on identification, and on the circumstances in which other checks should be undertaken. While the Government and Regulators do not prescribe those detailed policies, we are clear that firms should take appropriate action to ensure that the appropriate checks are conducted.

Church Commissioners

Churches: Greater London

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what assessment he has made of the financial effect on central London parishes of the congestion charge being levied on Sundays.

Andrew Selous: The Church Commissioners have indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Churches: Coronavirus

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps he is taking to ensure the accuracy of guidance issue to people planning weddings to (a) protect the finances of those people and minimise disruption to weddings.

Andrew Selous: The Church Commissioners have indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence: Disclosure of Information

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether non-disclosure agreements agreed between his Department and prime defence contractors purport to prohibit industry experts from providing evidence to the House of Commons Defence Committee.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many non-disclosure agreements are being required by his Department from the industry for procurement competitions; and for what reasons those such agreements are necessary.

Jeremy Quin: It is Ministry of Defence (MOD) policy to use standard contract conditions to prevent the unauthorised disclosure of information for a variety of reasons, including protection of national security, commercial confidentiality and personal data. The MOD would only use Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) in its commercial arrangements by exception. Any such NDAs, if agreed, would be prepared on a project by project basis: the MOD does not hold any central record of any such agreements. Similarly, the MOD has no centrally held records of any contractual conditions or NDAs that would prevent an industry expert from attending a Parliamentary Committee. Where circumstances arose in which information is requested, the disclosure of which may be prohibited under contractual arrangements; for example, on grounds of national security or commercial sensitivities, this would have to be carefully considered on a case by case basis.

Type 26 Frigates: Procurement

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to order the next batch of Type 26 frigates.

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether there are penalty clauses in the procurement contracts for the new Type 26 frigates in the event that his Department does not order a second batch of Type 26 frigates.

Jeremy Quin: For our plans to order the next batch of Type 26 frigates, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my noble Friend, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence (Baroness Goldie of Bishopton), on 21 January 2020 to Question HL366 in the House of Lords. The terms and conditions of our contract with BAE Systems for the Batch 1 Type 26 frigates are commercially confidential; I can, however, confirm that the contract contains no such penalty clauses. HL366 - Type 26 Frigates (docx, 32.0KB)

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft

Mr Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what mid air refuelling system the F35B uses; and how that system differs from the one used by the Typhoon.

Jeremy Quin: The UK's F-35 Lightning and Typhoon fleets both use the 'probe and drogue' air to air refuelling system, utilising the RAF Voyager fleet.

Military Aid

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on what date his Department received a request from the Home Office to assist UK Border Force in the English Channel.

James Heappey: A Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA) request from the Home Office was received by Defence on 7 August 2020 for support to the Border Force efforts to counter people trafficking activity in the English Channel.

Military Aid

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department made an assessment of the potential merits of the use of Giraffe radar prior to the deployment of RAF aircraft in the English Channel in the last two months.

James Heappey: An assessment on the suitability of Giraffe radar system was conducted and it was deemed that this capability was not appropriate due to the good existing radar coverage in the area.

Department for Work and Pensions

Universal Credit

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it is the Government's policy to extend the £20 monthly uplift to universal credit beyond Spring 2021.

Will Quince: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Children: Maintenance

Mark Jenkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effect on the processing of (a) new and (b) existing Child Maintenance Service cases of new parents' inability to register births during the covid-19 outbreak; and what assessment her Department has made of the effect on that service's users of the Child Maintenance Service not being able to backdate payments more than 12 weeks once those new birth registrations have been confirmed.

Mims Davies: No assessment has been made.In response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, temporary changes to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) were introduced to ensure we could continue to deliver our priorities in supporting separated parents while also supporting wider efforts across the Department to provide financial support to more people. The CMS has now reinstated a full service.

Social Security Benefits

Simon Hoare: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether compensation payments for Historical Institutional Abuse in Northern Ireland are taken into account in establishing eligibility to claim (a) housing benefit, (b) universal credit and (c) pension credit in (i) Northern Ireland and (ii) England.

Will Quince: The Housing Benefit, Pension Credit and Universal Credit schemes in Northern Ireland are matters for the Northern Ireland Assembly. With regard to Great Britain, currently, payments made from the scheme would be treated as capital sums, with those sums taken into account in the calculation of all of the benefits mentioned above. Northern Ireland, Great Britain and Treasury officials are working together on how payments from the scheme should be treated in Northern Ireland.

Employment Schemes

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how people have taken part in (a) the sector-based work academy programme and (b) JobCentre Plus work trials in the last 18 months.

Mims Davies: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Jobcentres: Staff

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 July 2020 to Question 74614 on Jobcentres: Staff, what progress she has made on evaluating the number of new Job Centres required to be opened to accommodate the work coaches in (a) Scotland, (b) the UK and (c) Airdrie and Shotts.

Mims Davies: DWP continues to evaluate its existing estates capacity and explore options for new, temporary, premises to enable it to respond to the increased demand for its services across the UK. Parliament will be updated once firm decisions are made on any new premises.

Department for Work and Pensions: Staff

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many members of staff in her Department have equality, diversity or inclusion in their job title.

Mims Davies: The Department is committed to diversity and inclusion and has a central Wellbeing, Inclusion, Safety and Health team which sits within the corporate HR function. Because of the cross-cutting nature of the team’s work it is not possible to split the numbers by diversity or inclusion alone. In addition, there will be many colleagues throughout the Department involved in diversity and inclusion related activity, in both a formal and informal capacity. Unfortunately, this information is not held centrally and would only be available at a disproportionate cost.

Social Security Benefits: Terminal Illnesses

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to publish the findings of her Department’s review on how well the benefits system supports people who are terminally ill.

Justin Tomlinson: The evaluation remains a priority for the DWP. We will be announcing the outcome and the changes that will be made as a result shortly.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Pesticides: Regulation

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government's policy on trade negotiations allows the devolved nations to introduce stricter measures on protecting human health and the environment from pesticides.

Victoria Prentis: Our trade agreements will respect the regulatory autonomy of the Parties and decisions on standards remain a matter for the UK Government and devolved administrations, including on pesticides. Decisions on which pesticides can be authorised for marketing and use in each part of the UK are already within the competence of each devolved administration. We will maintain our high human health and environmental standards when operating our own independent pesticides regulatory regime, after the transition period. We will ensure decisions on the use of pesticides are based on careful scientific assessment and will not authorise pesticides that may carry unacceptable risks. The statutory requirements of the EU regime on standards of protection will be carried across unchanged into domestic law. This Government is clear that in all of our trade negotiations we will not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards.

Farmers: Coronavirus

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the 14-day quarantine rules apply to farmers who are able safely and need urgently to harvest their crops.

Victoria Prentis: We recognise and appreciate our dedicated farmers who continue to work tirelessly during this challenging time to keep our nation fed.Public health remains the UK's top priority, which is why we make changes to the Travel Corridor list as necessary.Those arriving from countries not included on the flight corridor exemption list - except for those travellers exempt from UK border rules - must self-isolate for 14 days upon their return.Farmers and farm workers are not included in this exemption list and must therefore self-isolate. However, there are special arrangements in place for seasonal horticultural workers that enables them to go straight to the farm where they are working and commence work immediately whilst self-isolating.Relevant guidance outlining this advice can be found here:Travel corridors:https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-travel-corridorsTravellers exempt from border rules in the UK:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules/coronavirus-covid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Staff

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many members of staff in his Department have equality, diversity or inclusion in their job title.

Victoria Prentis: Job titles are not recorded in the Human Resources database. To obtain this data, we would have to contact all business areas and we estimate this would break the disproportionate cost limit. However, we do have six members of staff who work in HR’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team.

Seals

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to ban seal shooting in UK waters before the US Marine Mammal Protection Act Import Provision Rule deadline of 1 January 2022.

Victoria Prentis: The Government is taking action to prevent the killing of seals in English, Welsh and Northern Irish waters as a result of commercial fishing. The Marine Management Organisation has not issued licences to kill or take seals in the last ten years under the Conservation of Seals Act for the purpose of preventing damage to fisheries. However, the ‘netsman’s defence’ provision in the Act allows the unlicensed shooting of seals to prevent damage to equipment, or fish within it, and where specific firearms and ammunition are used. We have tabled amendments to the Fisheries Bill that will, if passed, make it illegal to kill seals intentionally or recklessly. These amendments aim to ensure that UK fisheries exports are compliant with the US Marine Mammal Protection Act. The Scottish Parliament recently passed similar legislative changes via the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020.

Sheep Meat: Wales

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the Welsh lamb industry in the event of a deal on the future relationship with the EU not being agreed by the end of the transition period.

Victoria Prentis: The Government is fully committed to agreeing a trade deal with the EU from 1 January 2021. As any responsible government would, we are also preparing for the possibility of ‘no deal’, which is why we have contingency plans in place to minimise disruption for the food and farming sectors as much as possible. Through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group, Defra and the Devolved Administrations continue to monitor the market situation across various agricultural commodities. Officials have also been reviewing and updating the analysis we undertook as part of our no deal preparations in 2019. No decisions have been taken on any sector specific interventions, including lamb, after the end of the Transition Period.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Vaccination

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the development of a vaccine for cattle to prevent the spread of bovine TB.

Victoria Prentis: Developing a TB vaccine for cattle is one of the Government’s priorities. A cattle vaccine could be a game-changer in terms of providing a strong additional tool to help eradicate bovine TB. In July 2020, we announced that the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) had granted permission for field trials of both the candidate Cattle BCG vaccine and the candidate skin test to differentiate infected from vaccinated animals (the DIVA skin test). Like other veterinary medicines, both the Cattle BCG vaccine and the DIVA skin test will need VMD marketing authorisations before they can be deployed. It is hoped that field trials will provide the evidence required for future marketing authorisations and for the DIVA skin test to be internationally recognised. The aim is to start field trials in 2021 and complete them in 2024. Provided the field trials go as hoped, and VMD considers the marketing authorisation applications satisfactory with respect to quality, safety and efficacy, the timeline envisages those authorisations being granted in 2025.

Dogs: Imports

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Intra-Trade Animal Health Certificates were issued for dogs entering the UK in each month from June 2020 to August 2020; and how many dogs were imported under PETS in the same period.

Victoria Prentis: The number of Intra-Trade Animal Health Certificates (ITAHCs) issued for dogs entering the UK in June 2020 was 3,967, in July 2020 was 4,850 and in August 2020 was 3,916. The data for ITAHCs was extracted from the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES) by searching for imports of canis familiaris. These figures cover all commercially imported dogs including commercial puppies, rescue dogs, research dogs and unaccompanied pets. TRACES is a European Commission system employed by EU member states to facilitate and record animal movements into and throughout the EU. The number of dogs entering Great Britain under the Pet Travel Scheme in June 2020 was 7,423 and in July 2020 was 5,423. Data for the number of dogs entering Great Britain in August 2020 is not yet available. The data regarding the Pet Travel Scheme is based on information provided by checkers employed by approved carriers of pet animals. This information is based on information provided by third party pet checkers and importers, exporters and authorities in EU countries recording data on the TRACES system. Figures may be amended as third parties submit new data.

Livestock: Transport

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to ban the long-distance transportation of live animals; and if he will make a statement.

Victoria Prentis: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the Rt Hon Member for Chipping Barnet on 11 June 2020, PQ UIN 55899. https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2020-06-08/55899

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the timescale is for phasing out badger culling.

Victoria Prentis: Bovine TB (bTB) is one of the most difficult and intractable animal health challenges that England faces today. Tackling the reservoir of infection in wildlife, chiefly badgers, is an important element of Defra's bTB eradication strategy for England. Earlier this year, we published our response to the Godfray Review, which sets out the next phase of our strategy to combat bTB. Our response noted that while it is important to retain the ability to introduce new cull zones where epidemiological evidence points to a reservoir of disease in badgers, we envisage that any remaining areas would join the current cull programme in the next few years and that the badger cull phase of the strategy would then wind down by the mid to late 2020s. Culling would, however, remain an option thereafter where epidemiological assessment indicates that it is needed. That plan to wind down the current badger culling programme has not changed. As noted in the Government response to the Godfray Review, it is unrealistic to switch immediately to badger vaccination but we are already doing a great deal to make sure the transition happens. In July, we announced that world-leading bTB cattle vaccination trials are set to get underway in England and Wales as a result of a major breakthrough by government scientists. These trials enable work to accelerate towards planned deployment of a cattle vaccine by 2025.

Hare Coursing: Fines

Anthony Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will increase the fines permissible within Section 30 of the Game Act 1831 for hare coursing offences.

Rebecca Pow: There are no current plans to amend the penalties in the Game Act 1831 for hare coursing offences. The Government takes wildlife crime seriously and is committed to ensuring the protection this legislation offers wildlife is effectively enforced. It recognises the problems and distress which hare coursing causes for rural communities. Poaching (including hare coursing) is one of the UK’s six wildlife crime priorities, which are set by the UK Wildlife Crime Tasking and Co-ordination Group, supported by the Wildlife Crime Conservation Advisory Group, chaired by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. The National Wildlife Crime Unit, funded partly by Defra and the Home Office, assists regional police forces in tackling these crimes by gathering and analysing intelligence, sharing this with the police and assisting police investigations. A hare coursing roundtable meeting was held on 3 September between Defra, Home Office, police, National Farmers Union and other rural organisations to bring parties together to establish a shared understanding of the barriers to tackling hare coursing effectively and identify potential ways forward.

Hen Harriers: Conservation

Christian Wakeford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to sustainably rebuild hen harrier populations.

Rebecca Pow: The Government is committed to securing the long-term future of the hen harrier as a breeding bird in England. The Hen Harrier Action Plan sets out what will be done to increase hen harrier populations in England and includes measures to stop illegal persecution. The long-term plan was published in January 2016 and we believe that it remains the best way to safeguard the hen harrier in England. A copy of the plan is available at: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/491818/hen-harrier-action-plan-england-2016.pdf.We are working in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders, including Natural England, moorland communities, conservation organisations, police and landowners, to implement the joint Hen Harrier Action Plan to improve the conservation status of the species.This year Natural England has recorded the best year for hen harrier breeding in England since Natural England’s hen harrier recovery project was established in 2002. In England in 2020 there were 24 hen harrier nesting attempts recorded. Nineteen of these were successful and 60 chicks have fledged.

Animal Experiments: Chemicals

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to accept animal testing results from the EU on chemicals in lieu of animal testing on the same chemicals in the UK.

Rebecca Pow: The UK has been at the forefront of opposing animal tests where alternative approaches could be used. This is known as the "last-resort principle", which we will retain and enshrine in legislation through our landmark Environment Bill.We will recognise the validity of any animal testing that has already been undertaken and so avoid the need for further testing.The grandfathering of all existing UK-held REACH registrations into the UK system will further avoid the need to duplicate animal testing associated with re-registration.

Hen Harriers

Greg Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many hen harrier nesting attempts there were in England in 2020; how many of those nests were successful; what the known causes for nest failures were; and how many chicks were fledged.

Greg Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many hen harrier nesting attempts in England in 2020 were located in areas where the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds had primary control over access; how many of those nests failed to have any chicks fledge; and what were the known causes of those nest failures.

Rebecca Pow: In England in 2020 there were 24 hen harrier nesting attempts recorded. Nineteen of these were successful and 60 chicks have fledged. Based on information held by Natural England, ten of these nesting attempts were on land where the RSPB had primary control over the access, with five of these being failed attempts. There were a number of reasons for the five failed nests. One was thought to be predated by a fox, two were abandoned for unknown reasons and a further two nests may have failed due to the disappearance of a breeding male.

Home Office

Rape: Victims

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the subjugation of alleged rape victims to give up private information to the police on case outcomes.

Kit Malthouse: Victims and witnesses should only be asked to provide personal information in pursuit of a reasonable line of enquiry within the context of the individual case, never as a matter of course.The Government is working alongside criminal justice partners to ensure that this can be done in a way that is proportionate and achieves the delicate balance of protecting individuals’ right to privacy with the interests of justice.Work undertaken by the Crown Prosecution Service and police includes improved training and the development of a team of specialist and experienced disclosure experts in every police force. The College of Policing is also developing new guidance on investigative practice when mobile data extraction is needed, and the Home Office will work with policing to ensure this will be enabled by appropriate technology and training.

Home: Staff

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many members of staff in her Department have equality, diversity or inclusion in their job title

James Brokenshire: Job titles are not held centrally and could only be retrieved at disproportionate cost.The Home Office central Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) team has 18 staff who work across the organisation for its workforce of nearly 37,000 staff. The team are responsible for setting the strategic direction for diversity and inclusion as set out in the Home Office D&I Strategy 2018-2025: Inclusive by Instinct.The Home Office is committed to becoming a more diverse and inclusive Department and going beyond the mandated requirements established in EA2010. This inclusive approach will make the Department a stronger organisation that is better equipped to develop and deliver policy and services for the public we serve. Achieving this ambition requires action from everyone in the Department.In addition to the central D&I team there are further roles which whilst not exclusively working on diversity and inclusion do have responsibilities for realisation of the D&I strategy, and delivery of D&I interventions. These roles are distributed across the HO, and include staff support network chairs/leads who have between 20 – 50% of their time allocated to this role, as well as some HR Business Partners that have specific D&I responsibilities.

Hezbollah

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate his Department has made of the number of UK residents who are members of Hezbollah.

James Brokenshire: The Government does not comment on intelligence matters.Hizballah is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK and membership is therefore a criminal offence. Decisions to investigate and prosecute for proscription offences are a matter for the police and Crown Prosecution Service. Statistics on prosecutions for proscriptions offences are routinely published in the report on the ‘Operation of Police Powers under the Terrorism Act 2000’. The most recent publication, up to year ending March 2020, was published on 11 June on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/operation-of-police-powers-under-the-terrorism-act-2000-financial-year-ending-march-2020.

Islamic Resistance Support Organization

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Islamic Resistance Support Organisation operates in the UK.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office does not keep a central register of all the organisations that operate in the UK.

Action Fraud

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what remedies are available to a member of the public who has reported a crime using the Action Fraud website, been advised that the matter is not suitable for investigation, and is dissatisfied with that outcome.

James Brokenshire: The decision on whether to investigate a crime rests solely with the police who will take into account available resources, the likely eventual outcome and other criminal cases already under investigation.If a member of public is not satisfied with the service provided by Action Fraud or NFIB, they can make a complaint via the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) or the City of London Police’s Professional Standards Directorate (PSD).Furthermore, there are alternative routes to redress that, depending on the nature of the allegation, a member of the public may wish to pursue. One of these is to pursue the case through a civil route. Information on this can be sought by contacting Citizen’s Advice.

Action Fraud

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many reports have been made by members of the public to Action Fraud since its creation; how many of those reports have been referred to a police force; and how many of those referred reports have led to a substantive criminal investigation by the police.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office collects data on the number of fraud and Computer Misuse Act (CMA) cases reported to Action Fraud that have been recorded as criminal offences by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB).Such data is published by the Office for National Statistics on a quarterly basis and the most recently available data for the year ending March 2020 can be found, along with a time series, in Table A4 here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesappendixtables.The Home Office also collects information on the number of fraud and CMA offences that the NFIB refer to police forces for investigation and on the number of fraud and CMA outcomes recorded by the police. This data is published annually as part of the Home Office’s ‘Crime Outcomes in England and Wales’ publication. The latest available data for year ending March 2020 can be found be here:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/crime-outcomes-in-england-and-wales-statisticsCity of London Police also produce an interactive dashboard of their statistics which shows a breakdown of dissemination rates and outcomes at force level. This can be found here: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/data

Immigration: EU Nationals

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to allow the resumption of appointments for EU citizens to scan ID documents as part of applications to the EU Settlement Scheme as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.

Kevin Foster: Home Office support services and application routes have all fully reopened in line with public health guidance. However, some face-to-face support services are provided by our delivery partners. The scanning service is provided by Local Authorities who will review and assess the safe provision and resumption of the service. The Home Office and our delivery partners are keeping this situation under constant review and will endeavour to reinstate all services to their original capacity in line with public health guidance.Despite this there are multiple ways applicants can have their identity documents checked as part of the application process, including using the EU Exit: ID Document Check smartphone app or by posting identity documents to the Home Office.

Scotland Office

Fisheries: Scotland

Gary Sambrook: What steps his Department is taking to support the Scottish fishing sector.

David Duguid: My Department meets with representatives of the Scottish fishing sector on a regular basis. At the end of 2020, we will be out of the Common Fisheries Policy and will take back control of our waters. We have also guaranteed to maintain funding throughout this Parliament to support both our fishermen and the regeneration of our coastal communities across all four of the UK’s nations.

Coronavirus: Screening

Tonia Antoniazzi: If he will hold discussions with the Scottish Government on steps to increase the number of people being tested for covid-19 in Scotland.

David Duguid: The UK Government continues to work with the Scottish Government and provide support where it is needed. In addition to the six drive-in sites, and eighteen mobile units, the recently opened walk-in testing centre in St Andrews is also helping to provide significant support and resource for testing capacity in Scotland, in addition to NHS Scotland’s own capacity. It is for the Scottish Government to decide policy for the use of that capacity.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Tourism: Congleton

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of how the Kickstarting Tourism Package has (a) benefited to date) and (b) will benefit Congleton consituency.

Luke Hall: The Kick-Starting Tourism Package provides £10 million of ERDF funding as part of the government’s drive to boost the recovery of the economy and provide small and medium sized enterprises in tourist destinations help to adapt their businesses following the coronavirus pandemic.Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub, which forms part of the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership has been allocated £223,873 for the area, which encompasses the Congleton constituency. It is working with the business community to target and allocate funding in line with local priorities. ? Applications are expected to be sought imminently, but no funding awards have yet been made by Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub. No information is yet available on the geographic composition of awards.

High Streets Task Force

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of how the High Streets Task Force will benefit towns in (a) Congleton constituency and (b) England.

Luke Hall: The Government is providing support to local leadership with a High Streets Task Force, giving high streets and town centres expert advice to adapt and thrive. Over five years this is providing hands-on support to local areas in England to develop data-driven innovative strategies and connect local areas to relevant experts. The Task Force, hosted by a consortium led by the Institute of Place Management, is also providing training and help to improve coordination between different groups working to improve their high streets.In July 2020, the Task Force launched its range of support for high streets in England affected by Covid-19. Support is open to all high streets and town centres that wish to use it, including in Congleton. This includes access to a range of online training, data dashboards and guidance, which will be available on the Task Force’s website. This covers advice and information on local recovery planning, coordination, public space and place marketing. For more information on the Task Force and to kept up to date on its work, local places can register their interest at https://www.highstreetstaskforce.org.uk/.The Task Force will also be providing specific expert support and training to a number of places over the course of its five-year contract. Some of this support will be prioritised according to need.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Staff

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many members of staff in his Department have equality, diversity or inclusion in their job title.

Luke Hall: The data requested is not held centrally and to gather the data for the whole department would exceed the time cost limit.We can however confirm that there is a diversity and inclusion team that is based within the Department, this team contains 4 members of staff. The team leads on the Department’s aims to bring in and bring on diverse talent and to foster an inclusive culture. This involves working with staff across the department including staff network committees who are given time through the business deal to allocate to the work of their network with the aim of improving equality, diversity and inclusion for all in MHCLG.

Future High Streets Fund: Congleton

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of how Congleton constituency (a) has benefited to date and (b) will benefit from the Future High Streets Fund.

Luke Hall: Our high streets and town centres have a crucial role to play in the recovery of local economies and our Towns Fund, which includes up to £1 billion as part of the Future High Streets Fund competition, is key to delivering this.In line with the Future High Street Fund supplementary guidance, Cheshire East Council were eligible to submit three Expressions of Interest (EOIs) to the fund based on population size. Congleton was not selected by Cheshire East Council at the EOI stage. In due course we will bring forward a competitive round of the Towns Fund and will welcome proposals from local authorities to transform our towns and high streets driving up long term regeneration and economic growth.

Reopening High Streets Safely Fund: Congleton

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of how Congleton constituency has (a) benefited from to date and (b) will benefit from the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund.

Luke Hall: Our £50 million Reopening High Streets Safely Fund is playing an important role in getting people back to work, supporting our businesses and helping to reinvigorate our communities. Congleton will benefit from £339,533 that has been made available to Cheshire East Unitary Authority as part of the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund. Already they are using their allocation to enable social distancing in 16 town centres across Cheshire East. They are also delivering a communications campaign for the people of Congleton, ensuring they know about the measures in place to support the safe reopening of their high streets and other commercial areas.

Towns Fund: Congleton

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of how Congleton (a) has benefited to date and (b) will benefit from the Towns Fund.

Luke Hall: The £3.6 billion Towns Fund will drive the economic regeneration of towns across England to deliver long-term economic and productivity growth.?As you know, there are currently an initial 101 places developing proposals for Town Deals to benefit from the Towns Fund.?  I am pleased to confirm we have committed to a future competitive round of the Towns Fund. This will allow for more places?like Congleton?to benefit from the economic regeneration of towns to deliver long-term economic and productivity growth.?We will publish details of the competition in due course.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Ministerial Powers

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the (a) subject, (b) date and (c) reason has been for all Ministerial Directions he has issued since 24 July 2019.

Luke Hall: Ministerial directions and rationale for them are available on Gov.uk.

Housing: Older People

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to implement the recommendations made by the Law Commission in March 2017 on transparency of fees and charges in retirement properties.

Luke Hall: The Government responded to the Law Commission in March 2019, thanking them for the report and agreeing to implement the majority of the recommendations. The Government is further considering two of the recommendations, on succession rights and a database of leasehold retirement properties with event fees.Given the impact of Covid-19 on the legislative agenda, and the Government’s wider priorities to restart the economy, we will bring forward legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Construction: Wool

Fay Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the use of wool in UK construction.

Christopher Pincher: The Government is committed to meeting its target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out how we expect the planning system to help mitigate and adapt to?climate change. In their development plan policies, local planning authorities can encourage the use of sustainable materials like wool in new development.The Building Regulations are generally couched in performance terms and do not prescribe the technologies, materials or fuels to be used, allowing builders the flexibility to innovate and select the most practical and cost-effective solutions in particular circumstances. Developers are able to use wool products in construction projects where it is safe to do so and where it can be shown to meet all applicable Building Regulations requirements.

Green Belt

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Planning for the Future white paper, what assessment he has made of the likely effect of the proposals on areas categorised Growth on undesignated green space.

Christopher Pincher: Planning for the Future proposes significant changes to the focus and processes of planning – to secure better outcomes in terms of land for homes, beauty and environmental quality. One key proposal is that local plans place all land into one of three categories: areas for Growth, Renewal or Protection. The consultation proposal is clear that Green Belt and valued green space, which need not necessarily be a designated area, would be included in areas for Protection. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that planning policies and decisions should not only protect and enhance the natural environment but should secure net gains for biodiversity, including wildlife habitat, woods and ecological networks, and recognise the benefits of the best and most versatile agricultural land. The reforms we are proposing are designed to support the continuing implementation of this policy by local authorities, in line with our 25 Year Environment Plan and provisions in the Environment Bill. We also propose to transform how communities engage with plan-making, using new digital tools to make it easier for many more people to understand, engage with and influence development policies and proposals. After carefully considering all the responses to Planning for the Future, the Government will publish its conclusions.

Affordable Housing: Construction

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Planning for the Future white paper, what assessment he has made of the effect of reducing the requirement of housing developers to provide affordable housing from sites of 10 units/ per 0.5 hectares to sites of 50 units/ per 2.5 hectares on affordable housing numbers.

Christopher Pincher: To aid small and medium-sized (SME) builders through economic recovery, we are consulting on a proposal to increase the current threshold at which affordable housing contributions can be collected on new developments. Our assessment indicates that if overall housing delivery remained constant, for a threshold of up to 40 units we would expect to see a reduction of between 7 per cent and 14 per cent of section 106 affordable housing delivery over a single year. For a threshold of up to 50 units, this would be between 10 per cent and 20 per cent. However, we anticipate that raising the threshold would make more sites viable for SME builders and would increase the pace of their delivery. We are proposing this as a short-term measure before introducing radical reform through the Planning for the future white paper, in which we are proposing a new nationally-set ‘Infrastructure Levy’ that delivers at least as much on-site affordable housing as at present.

Planning Permission

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Planning for the Future white paper, what steps the Government is taking to secure public engagement at the planning application stage of the proposed new planning system.

Christopher Pincher: The planning reforms set out in the Planning for the Future White paper will make it simpler, quicker and more accessible for local people to engage with the planning system. The best way to bring forward new, significant development is by improving community engagement and input at an earlier stage in the planning process. At the plan making stage, people will have the opportunity to comment on local plans and deciding where proposed development should go. This will give certainty to local communities that development will be in the areas best identified for growth. There will still be the opportunity for people to comment on planning applications where these are still required.

Private Rented Housing: Evictions

Bim Afolami: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the increase in the period of notice required to be served on a tenant (private, domestic property) from three months to six months applies to notices served and effective before the increased period was announced.

Christopher Pincher: The legislation requiring landlords to provide six months’ notice to their tenants in most circumstances, apart from the most egregious cases, will be in force from 29 August 2020 until 31 March 2021. Notices served on and before 28 August are not affected by these changes.If a landlord serves a second notice of the same type under these new requirements, both notices will stand, but it is good practice to withdraw an earlier notice if a second notice is issued.

Housing: Carbon Emissions

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the cumulative effect of its proposal to require carbon neutral homes by 2050, on the level of carbon dioxide emissions from 2020 until 2050.

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Planning for the Future White Paper, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposal to require carbon neutral homes by 2050 on the UK's ability to deliver (a) the fourth and fifth carbon budgets, (b) net zero emissions before 2050 under the Climate Change Act 2008 and (c) an equitable contribution to the Paris Agreement goals.

Christopher Pincher: The Government remains committed to meeting its target of net zero emissions by 2050. We have met our first two Carbon Budgets and our latest emissions projections show that we are on track to meet the third. However, we recognise the need for further action to meet the fourth and fifth Carbon Budgets, and in 2020-21 we will bring forward ambitious new plans throughout the year to reduce emissions across key sectors of the economy, including an Energy White Paper, Transport Decarbonisation Plan, and Heat and Building Strategy.The Government recognises the important contribution that the energy efficiency of buildings has to make in meeting our net zero target. In October 2019, we launched the first stage of a two-part consultation on Part L and Part F of the Building Regulations, which proposed an ambitious uplift in the energy efficiency of new homes through the introduction of a Future Homes Standard from 2025. We expect that homes built to the Future Homes Standard will have carbon dioxide emissions 75-80 per cent lower than those built to current Building Regulations standards, which means they will be fit for the future, with low carbon heating and very high fabric standards.  As a stepping stone to the Future Homes Standard, we have also consulted on a meaningful and achievable interim increase to the energy efficiency standards for new homes. The preferred option set out in consultation is a standard that should result in a 31 per cent further reduction in emissions, compared to current standards.The introduction of the Future Homes Standard from 2025 represents a considerable improvement in energy efficiency standards for new homes. Homes built under the Future Homes Standard will be ‘zero carbon ready’, with the ability to become fully zero carbon homes over time as the electricity grid decarbonises, without the need for further costly retrofitting work. As indicated in Planning for the Future, a response to the Future Homes Standard consultation will be published in the autumn, and we intend to review the roadmap to ensure that implementation of the full Future Homes Standard takes place in the shortest possible timeline, as well as exploring options for the pathway to zero carbon homes, beyond 2025.We will consult in the future on the technical detail, guidance and impact assessment for the introduction of the Future Homes Standard, which will include the estimated reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

Housing: Construction

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to work with the Department of Transport to ensure that all new-build properties with parking provision have electric vehicle charge points.

Christopher Pincher: To support the transition to low emission vehicles, the Government held a consultation in 2019 ( https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/electric-vehicle-chargepoints-in-residential-and-non-residential-buildings ) proposing changes to the Building Regulations to mandate the provision of electric vehicle charging points for new homes where there is an appropriate parking space. The consultation also proposed a minimum infrastructure provision for new non-residential buildings and existing buildings undergoing major renovation. My officials are working closely with colleagues from the Department for Transport to consider the outcomes of the public consultation, and the Government will respond in due course.

Private Rented Housing: Coronavirus

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to prevent covid-19 related evictions following the lifting of the eviction ban.

Christopher Pincher: The stay on possession proceedings has been extended until 20 September 2020, meaning that in total no tenant can have been legally evicted for 6 months at the height of the pandemic.Legislation has been introduced that means, from 29 August 2020, landlords must give tenants six months’ notice before they can evict in most circumstances, apart from the most egregious cases such as incidents of anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse perpetrators. This will be in force until 31 March 2021.In addition, new court rules, which will come into force on 20 September, will mean landlords will need to set out in their claim any relevant information about a tenant’s circumstances, including information on the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic. Where this information is not provided, judges will have the ability to adjourn proceedings.We will keep these measures under review?and decisions?will continue?to be guided by the latest public health advice.

Help to Buy Scheme: Coronavirus

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to extend the Help to Buy scheme so that property completions delayed as a result of the covid-19 outbreak can be accepted as part of that scheme.

Christopher Pincher: The Government recognises that there have been delays caused by Covid-19, resulting in some homes reserved under the Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme not being built within the current scheme deadlines. Therefore, on 31 July a two-month extension was announced to the building completion deadline moving it from 31 December 2020 to 28 February 2021. The legal completion deadline for the purchase remains 31 March 2021.The Government also announced an extra measure to protect existing customers who have experienced severe delays as a result of coronavirus. Homes England, who administer Help to Buy, will work with those who had a reservation in place before 30 June to assess their situation and look to provide an extension where necessary, in which case they will have until 31 May 2021 to legally complete. More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/help-to-buy-scheme-extended.Meanwhile the Government’s new Help to Buy scheme, which will replace the current scheme and is for first time buyers only, will commence on 1 April 2021 and run until March 2023. There are no plans for further extensions. https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk/equity-loan/help-to-buy-equity-loan-2021-2023/.

Help to Buy Scheme: Coronavirus

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of house purchasers seeking to use the Help to Buy Scheme who have had their completion dates delayed as a result of the covid-19 outbreak and as a result have lost deposits on purchases.

Christopher Pincher: On 31 July a two-month extension was announced to the building completion deadline from 31 December 2020 to 28 February 2021, allowing an additional two months’ build time. The legal completion deadline for the purchase remains 31 March 2021.The Government also announced an extra measure to protect existing customers who have experienced severe delays as a result of coronavirus. Homes England, who administer Help to Buy, will work with those who had a reservation in place before 30 June to assess their situation and look to provide an extension where necessary. In which case, they will have until 31 May 2021 to legally complete. More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/help-to-buy-scheme-extended.Should there be any cases where a reservation has been secured after 30 June 2020 and the build is severely delayed despite the additional build time, and so the homebuyer is unable to reach legal completion by 31 March 2021, they must be unconditionally released from the contract. The homebuyer is advised to contact their conveyancer should they need further advice.Meanwhile the Government’s new Help to Buy scheme, which will replace the current scheme and is for first time buyers only, will commence on 1 April 2021 and run until March 2023. There are no plans for further extensions. https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk/equity-loan/help-to-buy-equity-loan-2021-2023/.

Planning: Archaeology and Cultural Heritage

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what role (a) archaeology and (b) heritage will play in his Department's proposals on changes to the planning process.

Christopher Pincher: The Government is committed to the protection of the historic environment and we have put in place a strong legislative and policy framework to achieve this. In bringing forward any reforms to the planning system, we will ensure that heritage considerations, including the need for archaeological surveys, are taken into account.

High Rise Flats: Insulation

Matt Rodda: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on allocating financial support to leaseholders to replace dangerous cladding; and what additional funding is being provided to fire services to pay for extra inspections of affected buildings.

Christopher Pincher: We understand the concerns of many leaseholders and building owners over the cost of remediation of cladding. This is why we have made £1 billion available to expedite and fund the removal of unsafe non-Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding in 2020/21. This is in addition to the £600 million made available already to ensure the remediation of unsafe ACM cladding. Progress on the ACM fund can be viewed in the monthly Building Safety Data Release, available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/aluminium-composite-material-cladding#acm-remediation-data. As for non-ACM funding, we published the Building Safety Fund application guidance for buildings in both the social and private sectors on 31 July and opened the application process.The Department will keep demand for the Fund under review and will in future publish regular updates regarding the allocation of funding against the budget available in the Building Safety Programme’s data release when ready. This release includes data and analysis related to the monitoring of the remediation of unsafe cladding.This year the Government has provided £10 million of additional funding to improve inspection capacity and capability on high-rise residential buildings. This is supporting the National Fire Chiefs Council to establish a new national infrastructure to support frontline protection work and the Fire and Rescue Services to conduct a Building Risk Review of all high rise residential buildings over 18 metres by the end of 2021.

High Rise Flats: Insulation

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that EWS1 certificates are produced as quickly as possible to prevent leaseholders having to delay purchases or remortgaging indefinitely.

Christopher Pincher: The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors EWS1 form, with support from lenders, was designed as a means to assist in the valuation of high-rise residential properties. The Department is aware that the form is being requested on a wider number of buildings than was the original intention. My Department continues to encourage the use, and acceptance, of wider evidence to demonstrate buildings are safe for the purpose of valuation.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office

House of Lords: Location

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on scoping a potential move of the House of Lords to York.

Chloe Smith: The Prime Minister wrote to the CEOs of the Sponsor Body and Delivery Authority requesting that the strategic review of the Restoration and Renewal Programme give consideration to decant locations outside of London, including York. The Government looks forward to the findings of the strategic review. It will be Parliament that will take the final decision on how to proceed.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Bob Stewart: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to co-ordinate a cross-Departmental response to a potential increase in the prevalence in covid-19 in winter 2020-21.

Penny Mordaunt: The actions of the Government and people across the UK have reduced the transmission of the virus significantly from its peak in the spring, but the coming winter presents further challenges.Our collective understanding of the virus, and how it spreads, has vastly improved since the initial wave of infections. In the coming months, we will continue to assess what the UK can learn from other nations, and carry out a series of exercises to test the Government’s winter plans, and to ensure effective coordination between departments and with the devolved administrations.

Sovereignty: Scotland

David Linden: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish all opinion polling commissioned by his Department on Scottish independence conducted in 2020.

David Linden: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, which polling organisations his Department commissioned in 2020; and how much his Department has paid to each of those organisations for each service.

Julia Lopez: As has been the case with successive administrations, Government routinely works with suppliers to provide polling and market research work so as to understand public attitudes and behaviours to inform our vitally important campaigns and policies. This enables us to deliver strong, national, cross-government communications campaigns, including to support the UK’s response and recovery from the pandemic. Internal policy development work is not normally disclosed.Details of departmental expenditure and contracts are published on GOV.UK.

Industrial Relations: Scotland

Alan Brown: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reasons employment and industrial relations are devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly but not to the Scottish Parliament.

Chloe Smith: The devolved nations, institutions and their respective devolution settlements are all different, reflecting their circumstances and history, and are considered as individual entities.The Smith Commission did not recommend any change to the reserved status of employment and industrial relations policy in Scotland.

Constituencies

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will amend the Government's guidance to the Electoral Commission to ensure the Commission's recommendations on the Boundary Review are based on the number of people in the total population rather than those only on the electoral register.

Chloe Smith: Boundary reviews have always been based on the number of registered electors. The Government considers that using the definitive registered electorate, and holding regular reviews, is the clearest and most effective method of keeping constituency sizes up to date.

Department for International Trade

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership: South East Asia

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions she or her officials have had with representatives of the Malaysian and Indonesian Governments on the production of palm oil and the UK's potential accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: The Department for International Trade has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Palm Oil: Imports

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the UK's potential membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, what representations she has received from her international counterparts on the import of palm oil into the UK after the transition period.

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: The Department for International Trade has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Institute of Economic Affairs: Meetings

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether her (a) invitation and (b) arrangements to attend dinner with the Institute of Economic Affairs on 14 January 2020 were managed by her (i) ministerial office or (ii) special advisers.

Greg Hands: The arrangement was made by an official.

Hydrogen: Exports

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent discussions her Department has had with UK businesses that are seeking to export hydrogen technology internationally.

Graham Stuart: Understanding the UK’s hydrogen capability and matching it with relevant high value export opportunities forms part of the work of the Department for International Trade’s Renewable Energy sector team. The Department has been engaging with UK suppliers from within the hydrogen industry, sector specific research centres and UK Government departments to understand the UK capability. UK Export Finance, regional offices and the department’s overseas network are all part of the support offer available.

Energy: Exports

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much funding her Department or associated bodies provided in support for exports of (a) coal, (b) biomass for electricity generation, (c) gas, (d) offshore wind, (e) onshore wind, (f) solar and (g) nuclear in each year since 2015.

Graham Stuart: The Department for International Trade only holds a record of funding allocations for these sub-sectors in relation to UK Export Finance (UKEF) in the form of export credit loans and guarantees; the Tradeshow Access Programme (TAP) in the form of grants to offset individual companies’ international exhibition costs; and Core Event funding to enable UK pavilions to represent UK industry at major international trade shows. Financial support since 2015 from these sources can be broken down as follows for the sectors requested: DIT Core Events:Financial budget in support of international trade eventsFY Year (Apr-Mar)CoalBiomassOil & GasOffshore windOnshore windSolarNuclear20150712,000274,00060,00000105,00020160690,000142,00059,00000294,000201700101,000262,00000477,0002018060,00022,000110,00000181,000201900165,00050,00000185,00020200090,000100,00000205,000Total01,462,000794,000640,000001,447,000Events represented by these figures were in some cases in support of both UK exports and inward investment goals   DIT Tradeshow Access Programme (TAP) grants:To offset UK companies’ individual international exhibition costsFY Year (Apr-Mar)CoalBiomassOil & GasOffshore windOnshore windSolarNuclear201512,50070,50057,00000002016 36,00022,5008,000007,500201712,500102,10035,000000020182,50083,50057,00047,000004,5002019£082,50045,00037,0000002020£0800000000Total27,500382,600216,50092,0000012,000Significant fluctuations may be due to some events being biennial   UK Export Finance (UKEF)Export Credit in support of export contracts (£ million)FY Year (Apr-Mar)CoalBiomassGas (only)Renewable Energy (aggregated)Nuclear20151.50.1251020162303752402017002771020180063560201950.90633810Total75.40.11,3754130

Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 5 July 2015 air-strike on a residential area in Saqain was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 21 April 2015 air-strike on a bridge in Al-Makhader was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 13 July 2015 air-strike on a neighbourhood in Sawan was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 21 April 2015 air-strike on houses in Al-Sab’ein was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 2 August 2018 air-strike on a market in Hodeidah was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 23 August 2017 air-strike on a hotel in Arhab was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 21 February 2016 air-strike on a house in Al-Dhaher was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 10 September 2016 air-strike on a water drill in Arhab was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 11 October 2015 air-strike on a jail in Al-Bayda City was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 21 February 2016 air-strike on a residential area in Al-Dhaher was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 12 July 2015 air-strike on a residential area in Sanhan was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 26 December 2017 air-strike on Shahrah market in Al-Taizziyah was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 6 July 2015 air-strike on a market in Jabal Iyal Bin Yazid was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 4 July 2015 air-strike on a market in Muthalith Ahim was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 2 January 2018 air-strike on a car in Munbah was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 3 January 2018 air-strike on a vehicle and restaurant in Zabid was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Written Statement of 7 July 2020 on Trade Update, whether the 22 April 2018 air-strike on a house in Midi was (a) among the alleged incidents of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen examined by her Department under the revised methodology and (b) one of the incidents classed as a possible breach of International Humanitarian Law.

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: I refer the Rt Hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury to the answer I gave on 7 September 2020, UIN: 81669.

Department for International Trade: Staff

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many members of staff in her Department have equality, diversity or inclusion in their job title.

Greg Hands: There are 10 employees in the Department for International Trade (including UK Export Finance) with Equality, Diversity or Inclusion in their job titles.

Export Duties

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent steps she has taken to reduce unfair tariffs on UK exports.

Greg Hands: As an independent trading nation, the UK is looking to strike successful trade deals with partners worldwide. We are seeking trade deals which will benefit businesses across the UK by reducing tariffs and offering preferential treatment to UK exports. The Department for International Trade is currently negotiating with the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. We will use our voice as a newly independent trading nation to champion free trade, fight protectionism and remove barriers at every opportunity.

Trade Agreements: Pesticides

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the Government’s policy on trade negotiations allows the UK Government to reject clauses in proposed free trade agreements which create additional obligations which require a more stringent approach to protecting human health and environment from pesticides.

Greg Hands: Decisions on standards are a matter for the UK and will be made separately from any Free Trade Agreement. We will maintain our food safety and environmental standards when operating our own independent pesticides regulatory regime, after the Transition Period. We will ensure decisions on the use of pesticides are based on careful scientific assessment and will not authorise pesticides that may carry unacceptable risks. The statutory requirements of the EU regime on standards of protection will be carried across unchanged into domestic law.

Trade Agreements: USA

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, when she plans to next meet with the US Trade Representative on removing tariffs on (a) cashmere and (b) other products.

Greg Hands: The Government takes the negative impact of US tariffs on key UK products, including cashmere, very seriously. These tariffs are unnecessary, unhelpful and harm industry on both sides of the Atlantic. The Secretary of State for International Trade continues to raise the issue of tariffs with the US administration at every opportunity. Most recently in early August, the Secretary of State visited the US and raised this issue with Ambassador Lighthizer, pressing for the removal of tariffs and a settlement to the Airbus and Boeing disputes as soon as possible.

Free Zones

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect of the UK Global Tariff on the economic merits of freeports through tariff inversion.

Greg Hands: In designing the UK Global Tariff (UKGT), we have assessed all available evidence submitted as part of the public consultation, and in addition, conducted our own assessment to ensure that the policy is robust and supportive of the UK economy as a whole. We will publish more analysis in the Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) alongside the legislation, as is standard practice.

Foreign Investment in UK

Jonathan Gullis: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department is taking to encourage inward investment into the UK.

Graham Stuart: The UK is a leading destination for foreign investment; it is second in the world for inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) stocks behind the USA, and also attracted £37 billion of Private Equity and £6 billion of Venture Capital involving foreign investors in 2019. The Department for International Trade promotes the UK as a leading destination for foreign investment and supports foreign investors. For example, the Department’s High Potential Opportunities Programme identifies specific investment opportunities across the UK. The Department supported 1,449 FDI projects during the 2019/20 Financial Year, which created 45,000 new jobs and safeguarded a further 8,000.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Mobile Phones: Rural Areas

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding the Government plans to allocate to the implementation of the Shared Rural Network in each of the UK's nations.

Matt Warman: Shared Rural Network programme will ensure that the £1 billion jointly committed by government and industry will increase 4G mobile coverage throughout the UK to 95% geographic coverage by the end of 2025. Technical work is underway to determine how to most efficiently reach targets and the department is unable to provide any further details on funding allocations at this stage. Government funds will be directed to areas where there is no current coverage while industry funds will be directed towards filling gaps where there is only partial coverage.

Mass Media: Coronavirus

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans the Government has to provide additional support to freelance workers in the media during the covid-19 outbreak.

Mr John Whittingdale: The Government has taken and continues to take action to support media organisations, and all those who work in them, during this time.For those who are self-employed, the Government has set up the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, which has helped millions of people across the UK, with those eligible receiving a cash grant worth 80% of their average monthly trading profit over the last three years. This covers 95% of people who receive the majority of their income from self-employment. The scheme has helped many eligible freelance workers, including those in the media, receive up to £2,500 per month in grants, and our support for those who are self-employed is far more comprehensive, generous and longer lasting than almost any other country.In addition, from 1 July employers have been able to bring back to work employees who have previously been furloughed for any amount of time and any shift pattern, while still being able to claim for their normal hours not worked.The Government remains determined to do all it can to help sectors, including the Media, in their recovery and return to profitability. Only by helping the overall economy to stabilise and grow will we be able to ensure a safe and prosperous future for freelance workers.

Broadband

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that superfast broadband is available throughout the UK.

Matt Warman: The government has invested significant amounts in digital infrastructure over the last decade, with the BDUK Superfast programme investing over £1.8 billion of public money to ensure over 96% of UK premises have access to superfast broadband. In addition to this, nearly £900 million has been allocated to stimulate the market to start building gigabit-capable infrastructure and full fibre connectivity.For those premises that are still struggling with slow speeds, there are a number of options available to them. DCMS runs a voucher scheme that can be used by rural communities across the UK to reduce the cost of installing gigabit-capable connectivity. This provides a voucher worth up to £3,500 for eligible small businesses and vouchers worth up to £1,500 for residents. ‘Top-up’ schemes run by Local Authorities, who provide their own funding on top of DCMS’s, are also operating across the UK.The government also introduced the broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) on 20 March 2020. The USO gives eligible premises in the UK the right to request a decent and affordable connection. The government has defined decent broadband as a service that can provide a download speed of 10Mbps and an upload speed of 1Mbps.Furthermore the government has pledged a further £5 billion to invest in the hardest to reach areas of the UK. Supplier engagement has taken place over the summer, and their feedback will be used to refine and finalise the delivery vehicle of the programme which will launch the first wave of procurements in early 2021.

Data Protection: EU Law

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment the Government has made of the likelihood of the UK receiving a positive data protection adequacy finding from the European Commission in the event that the transition period ends without a deal on the future relationship.

Mr John Whittingdale: It is our intention to secure positive adequacy decisions from the EU to allow personal data to continue to flow freely from the EU/EEA to the UK. We see the EU’s assessment process on data adequacy as technical and confirmatory of the reality that the UK is operating the same regulatory frameworks as the EU, and we consider that it is self-evidently in the interest of both sides to have adequacy decisions in place by the end of the year. No other third country's standards have ever been closer to the EU's.Adequacy assesses whether UK data protection standards are ‘essentially equivalent’ to the EU’s, not identical.However, we will take sensible steps to prepare for a situation where decisions are not in place by the end of the transition period. In such a scenario businesses and other organisations would be able to use alternative legal mechanisms to continue to transfer personal data. Guidance is available on the Information Commissioner's Office website.The UK is a global leader in strong data protection standards and protecting the privacy of individuals will continue to be a priority.

Treaties: Privacy

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans the Government has to negotiate an agreement with the US similar to Privacy Shield.

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what policy proposals the Government has on the future of personal data transfers to the US.

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment the Government has made of whether US data law ensures a level of protection equivalent to that provided by Article 47 of GDPR.

Mr John Whittingdale: On Thursday 16 July the Court of Justice of the European Union handed down its judgment in the case known as “Schrems II”. The Court invalidated the EU’s “Privacy Shield” adequacy decision and it is therefore no longer a valid basis for the transfer of personal data from the EU and the UK to the US. The UK Government intervened in the case, alongside the Commission, to support the validity of the Privacy Shield and is disappointed in the outcome of the judgment.During the Transition Period, judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union apply to the UK. After the transition period, the UK will repatriate the powers to conclude its own adequacy decisions, on the basis of future independent UK assessments of other countries’ data protection laws. The UK cannot do such assessments until after the end of the transition period.We propose to work with US and other stakeholders to support initiatives that reduce the burdens and barriers on organisations transferring personal data, unlocking the value of data within the modern digital economy, while providing trust and confidence that personal data is protected.

Newspaper Press: Internet

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to help tackle (a) disinformation and (b) abuse on the commenting forums of newspaper websites.

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of (a) covid-19 disinformation and (b) other online harms on newspaper comment forums on public safety; and if he will make a statement.

Mr John Whittingdale: The Government takes the issue of disinformation very seriously. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been vitally important that the public has accurate information and DCMS is leading work across Government to tackle disinformation.The Cross-Whitehall Counter Disinformation Unit was stood up on 5 March, bringing together cross-Government monitoring and analysis capabilities. The Unit’s primary function is to provide a comprehensive picture of the extent, scope and impact of disinformation and misinformation regarding Covid-19 and to work with partners to ensure appropriate action is taken.More generally, the Government’s Online Harms White Paper, published in April 2019, set out our plans for world-leading legislation to make companies more responsible for their users’ safety online. We intend to establish in law a new duty of care on companies towards their users which will be overseen by an independent regulator. This regulator will set clear safety standards, backed up by mandatory reporting requirements and strong enforcement powers to deal with non-compliance.However, Online Harms regulation will not seek to duplicate existing regulation on moderated comment sections on news sites. The government is committed to independent self-regulation of the press. Complaints about user-generated comments on news websites can be directed to the publication itself, or to the appropriate self-regulator. The majority of traditional publishers—including 95% of national newspapers by circulation—are members of IPSO. A small number of publishers have joined IMPRESS

Housing: Construction

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on support from charities and social enterprises to the Kickstart programme.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on adapting the Kickstart scheme to make it easier for charities and social enterprises to participate in that scheme.

Mr John Whittingdale: The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has held discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, including on how DCMS sectors have been impacted by Covid-19, particularly in relation to unemployment and where new opportunities may arise so that workers could be helped to pivot into new roles. Throughout Kickstart policy development, Government officials have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders, including a number of voluntary sector organisations.Employers from all industries and across the private, public and voluntary sectors will be able to get involved in creating new jobs, funded by the Kickstart scheme. Government will continue to engage with organisations in order to encourage a wide range of delivery partners to support the scheme and make it a success.

Television Licences: Older People

Colum Eastwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of over 75s in the Foyle constituency who will be required to pay for TV licences.

Mr John Whittingdale: The government is deeply disappointed with the BBC’s decision to restrict the over 75 licence fee concession to only those in receipt of pension credit. We recognise the value of free TV licences for over-75s and believe they should be funded by the BBC.However, the Digital Economy Act 2017 provides that the future of the concession is the responsibility of the BBC, not of the government. The BBC must look urgently at how it can use its substantial licence fee income to support older people and deliver for UK audiences of all ages.The BBC has estimated that around 3.7 million households will now be expected to pay for their TV licence as a result of its decision. The BBC has not published information on the breakdown by constituency of those affected by its decision.

Arts: Coronavirus

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the number of people employed in the creative industries.

Caroline Dinenage: DCMS conducted a business impact survey earlier this year with results published in June and the next set of results are due later in the Autumn. Since the start of the crisis, the department has engaged extensively with stakeholders across the Creative Industries and we are aware of the difficulties organisations and individuals face.We appreciate that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to the creative industries which is why the Government announced an unprecedented £1.57 billion support package specifically for the cultural sector to help them through this crisis. This funding will provide targeted support to many organisations in the Creative Industries, to stay open and continue operating. This substantial sector-specific package is in addition to economic wide measures such as the furlough scheme, and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, both of which were designed to protect as many jobs as possible.

Cinemas: Grants

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what additional support his Department is providing to independent cinemas applying for the British Film Institute managed grant.

Caroline Dinenage: My officials are working closely with the British Film Institute (BFI) to ensure that appropriate support is in place for those independent cinema owners applying to the Culture Recovery Fund. We recognise that some independent cinema owners will not have had much experience applying for Government funding and as a result we have agreed with the BFI a range of measures to support their applications.This includes detailed guidance notes, a robust supporting Q&A document, dedicated contact points to answer questions, and proactive engagement from the BFI’s Film Audience Network and its regional English Film Hubs to actively promote the Fund and support applicants through the required process. DCMS and the BFI have also been promoting the Fund through press and comms channels and encouraging potential applicants to apply. It is also positive that the industry has provided further support, with the UK Cinema Association setting up a series of meetings for their members to better understand the application process.The Culture Recovery Fund is intended to support the nation’s most important national, regional, and local organisations and funding will not be available for every organisation. As such it is critical that we scrutinise applications against rigorous criteria and continue to act to support applications from all eligible cinemas.

BBC: Local Broadcasting

Scott Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with the BBC on holding a public consultation on its proposals to revise regional television and radio production.

Mr John Whittingdale: The Government recognises the vital role that regional news and local current affairs play in bringing communities together and reflecting experiences across the UK. The BBC’s proposed cuts to English regional television were debated in the chamber on 22 June 2020, where the government set out its support for regional broadcasting and its concern about the BBC’s decision.The BBC is editorially and operationally independent of government, and regional programming is a matter for the BBC. The BBC’s Royal Charter requires the BBC to represent, reflect and serve audiences, taking into account the needs of diverse communities of all the UK nations and regions. Under the new regulatory system introduced by the government in 2017, the BBC Board must ensure the BBC complies with its Charter duties, and Ofcom was established as the BBC regulator to ensure the BBC is robustly held to account.Ofcom is aware of the changes to the BBC’s regional news and current affairs, and has said it will require the BBC to set out how the proposed cuts are consistent with the delivery of the BBC’s public purposes.The government has no plans to reopen the BBC Charter or conduct a public consultation on this issue. The Charter will next be considered at the mid-term review. This is the appropriate milestone to consider whether the current regulatory arrangements for the BBC are working effectively. The Charter specifies that the review must take place between 2022 and 2024.